AbbVie, Northwestern to collaborate on cancer research

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie and Northwestern University have agreed to a five-year deal to collaborate on cancer research.

As part of the agreement, scientists at Northwestern’s Lurie Cancer Center will be able to access new therapies developed by North Chicago-based AbbVie for research funded under the deal. AbbVie will be able to exclusively license any discoveries made during the collaboration.

“One of the best steps AbbVie can take to deliver new therapies in oncology is to combine our research and discovery expertise with the talents and insight of our colleagues in academic medicine,” said Dr. Gary Gordon, AbbVie’s vice president of oncology clinical development, in a joint statement announcing the deal.

AbbVie announced a similar collaboration today with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, of which Gordon is an alumnus and former faculty member, as well as one earlier this year with the University of Chicago.