Tobacco.org

Price of Not Smoking - $500M; Nabi, GSK in NicVax Partnership 

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, the first firm ever to enter Phase III testing of an antinicotine vaccine, inked a deal potentially worth $500 million, including $40 million up front, granting GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals a worldwide option to exclusively in-license NicVAX and develop follow-on next-generation nicotine vaccines using Nabi's intellectual property.

Investors reacted Monday by pushing shares of Rockville, Md.-based Nabi (NASDAQ:NABI) up 26.4 percent, or 94 cents, to close at $4.50.

Nabi CEO Raafat Fahim said the partnership not only gives his company a financial boost, but "it gives us also the respect and prestige that comes with not just any big pharma, but the right big pharma for this product."

Nabi recently received a $10 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to fund the first of two Phase III studies, which got under way earlier this month, testing NicVAX as a treatment for nicotine addiction and as a therapy to prevent smoking relapse. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 4, 2009.)

Jump to full article »