Northwestern has agreed to a five-year partnership with biopharmaceutical company AbbVie to collaborate on cancer research, the company announced Monday.

The North Chicago-based company will provide funding for research at the university’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, according to a news release. The company will also give the center’s scientists access to its new therapies for preclinical research. In return, AbbVie could get an exclusive license of certain Lurie center discoveries made during the duration of the partnership.

AbbVie is a global company known for making Humira, an injectable drug that treats autoimmune conditions such as Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The company is involved in similar partnerships with other universities such as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago.

“The ability to investigate new therapeutic agents with AbbVie provides us with a great opportunity to expand our translational oncology efforts,” said Leonidas C. Platanias, the center’s director, in the release. “Our partnership with AbbVie will facilitate and accelerate the development of innovative new therapies against a wide variety of different cancers.”

Research will focus on lung, colorectal, breast, prostate and blood cancers such as leukemia. The specific research projects will be decided by a joint steering committee comprised of representatives from both AbbVie and NU.

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