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Google is prescribing a new plan to enter the pharmaceutical business. The tech giant announced a partnership with Chicago-based pharmaceutical company AbbVie to develop new treatments for common diseases associated with aging.

Calico, a startup funded by Google, will work with AbbVie to spend $1.5 billion toward researching and developing new drugs and treatments for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's disease. A new R&D center will also be established in the San Francisco Bay area.

The partnership marks a two-step process in creating drugs. Calico will work on researching the science of aging using Google's advanced technology. AbbVie, meanwhile, will do what it does best: bringing drugs from late-stage development to market. (The company is best known for developing Humira, the biggest-selling drug in the world.)

"Our relationship with AbbVie is a pivotal event for Calico, whose mission is to develop life-enhancing therapies for people with age-related diseases," Arthur Levinson, the head of Calico and former Apple chairman, said in a statement. "It will greatly accelerate our efforts to understand the science of aging, advance our clinical work, and help bring important new therapies to patients everywhere."