Inside AbbVie's High-Stakes Deal on Next-Gen mRNA Therapy

AbbVie's Capstan buy signals a bold leap into in-vivo mRNA therapies, reshaping the race for next-gen autoimmune treatments.

20 Aug 2025

AbbVie is making one of its boldest moves yet: a $2.1 billion takeover of Capstan Therapeutics, a young biotech pushing mRNA beyond vaccines and into chronic disease treatment. The deal, announced in June and closed in August, marks AbbVie's most ambitious step to reinvent its immunology portfolio.

At the center is Capstan's experimental therapy, CPTX2309. Unlike traditional cell therapies that require extracting and modifying a patient's immune cells in a lab, Capstan's approach works inside the body. It delivers targeted mRNA instructions through lipid nanoparticles, effectively teaching immune cells to seek and destroy harmful B cells on their own. The result could be faster, cheaper, and more widely accessible therapies.

The timing is no accident. AbbVie's blockbuster Humira, once the world's best-selling drug, lost patent protection last year. Generics are eroding revenue, forcing AbbVie to place fresh bets on what comes next in immunology. Analysts say Capstan puts the company at the forefront of in-vivo mRNA therapies, with one expert calling the deal "a watershed moment for the field."

Competitors are watching closely. Moderna has been testing autoimmune treatments, BioNTech is moving ahead with cancer programs, and AbbVie's decisive strike could spur a new wave of deals and accelerated pipelines across the industry.

The risks, however, are steep. No in-vivo mRNA therapy has proven itself at scale, regulators will scrutinize safety closely, and manufacturing the delicate nanoparticles remains a work in progress. Still, optimism is strong among researchers who see the potential to rewire the immune system with far more precision than today's drugs.

Whether AbbVie's gamble pays off is far from certain. But with this deal, the company has thrown down a marker: mRNA's future may lie not just in preventing disease, but in fundamentally reshaping how it is treated.