美女免费一级视频在线观看

AbbVie has made a big move in the Alzheimer’s space just a few months after it dropped its own internal candidate over the summer.

On Monday, the pharma company announced a $1.4 billion acquisition of Aliada Therapeutics, a central nervous system (CNS) biotech. The deal gives AbbVie Aliada’s lead Alzheimer’s asset, an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta antibody called ALIA-1758.

AbbVie dropped its own Alzheimer’s candidate, ABBV-916, in July citing Phase 2 data that showed the drug might not be “sufficiently differentiated” in the evolving market, and appears to be switching gears to get into the space.

Roopal Thakkar, executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at Abbvie, noted in a statement that the buyout was in line with AbbVie’s plans to expand its neuroscience business.

“This acquisition immediately positions us to advance ALIA-1758, a potentially best-in-class disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” Thakkar said.

One of Aliada’s main focuses is its technology that allows drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in CNS diseases. The biotech’s Modular Delivery (MODEL) platform targets transferring and CD98 receptors in the brain’s endothelial cells to deliver therapeutic antibodies and genetic medicines into the brain, including siRNA.

ALIA-1758 works by using the platform to cross the BBB and “enable degradation and elimination” of amyloid beta plaques, which are the markers of Alzheimer’s, the company added. This is a different approach from current Alzheimer’s drugs in the market, including Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, which was approved in July.

Michael Ryan, chief medical officer at Aliada Therapeutics, called the MODEL platform a “promising step forward in brain delivery of an anti-amyloid antibody therapy.”

“Many promising CNS-targeted therapies fail to reach late-stage trials due to their inability to cross the BBB,” he said. “Our MODEL platform addresses this challenge directly, efficiently delivering targeted drugs and potentially transforming how we treat neurological diseases.”

ALIA-1758 is currently still in the early stages, in a Phase 1 trial that’s testing its safety and tolerability.

While there are now three recently approved Alzheimer’s drugs that target amyloid — including Kisunla, Leqembi and Aduhelm — the space has been marked by controversies and tumult. Biogen announced earlier this year that it would be discontinuing Aduhelm due to its high price tag and limited clinical evidence, as well as backlash among some medical experts who have argued the drug offers little benefit to patients.

The AbbVie deal “seemingly offers a vote of confidence in amyloid, just as sentiment in the space is reaching an all-time low,” Stifel analysts said in an investor note, according to BioSpace.

But Thakkar said the acquisition is a step forward for AbbVie’s longer-term goals to boost its R&D in the neurological space, and emphasized the MODEL platform as having a different approach.

“Aliada’s novel BBB-crossing technology strengthens our R&D capabilities to accelerate the development of next-generation therapies for neurological disorders and other diseases where enhanced delivery of therapeutics into the CNS is beneficial,” he said.

The Aliada acquisition is the latest in a slew of buys for AbbVie as it has started facing generic competition for its biologic Humira this year. Late last year, AbbVie bought Cerevel for $8.75 billion to invest in its neuroscience portfolio, adding drug candidates in Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and mood disorders.

As Humira sales plummeted 32% during the first half of 2024, AbbVie saw revenue for its neuroscience drugs increase 15% during the same period.

Neuroscience is one of the three main pillars of its new communications strategy, alongside oncology and immunology. This year, AbbVie launched “The Case for Big Bets,” a communications campaign aimed at underscoring its investments in those three therapeutic areas.It’s also been active in marketing around Parkinson’s disease, launched a “Spark the Night” campaign that seeks to highlight nighttime symptoms of the disease.