- Mitokinin's lead compound, a selective PINK1
activator, is designed to address mitochondrial dysfunction, which
plays a key role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease
- Activation of PINK1 remediates mitochondrial damage
and restores mitochondrial function
NORTH
CHICAGO, Ill., Oct. 5, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced today that it has
exercised its exclusive right and completed the acquisition of
Mitokinin, a discovery-stage biotechnology company developing a
potentially first-in-class disease-modifying treatment for
Parkinson's Disease (PD). Mitokinin's lead compound, a selective
PINK1 activator, is designed to address mitochondrial dysfunction
that is believed to be a major contributing factor to Parkinson's
disease pathogenesis and progression.
PINK1 plays a key role in maintaining a healthy mitochondrial
system by facilitating the turnover of dysfunctional mitochondria.
Mutations in PINK1 are associated with a loss of PINK1 function and
cause familial forms of PD. Activation of PINK1 offers a
potentially disease-modifying treatment approach beyond familial
PD, by addressing mitochondrial dysfunction and improving
mitochondrial health in sporadic PD.
"Parkinson's disease continues to be a major unmet medical need,
impacting patients, caregivers and society. With this acquisition,
we are excited to grow our neuroscience portfolio and explore a
potential new treatment option for PD," said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., vice president and
global head of discovery research, AbbVie. "While current PD
treatments may alleviate the symptoms of parkinsonism, there are
currently no available therapies that prevent progression of the
disease. Targeting PINK1 offers a novel approach that may alter
disease pathogenesis."
"Collaboration with AbbVie's world-class Neuroscience and
External Innovation teams added significant value and resources to
help accelerate the program to investigational new drug (IND)
enabling studies," said Daniel de
Roulet, co-founder and chief executive officer,
Mitokinin.
The role of PINK1 in addressing mitochondrial dysfunction has
long been recognized; however, developing selective, brain
penetrant PINK1 activators for therapeutic use in PD has been
challenging.
"Our pre-clinical data demonstrate that our PINK1 activator
compound can selectively enhance the active-form of PINK1, which is
found on damaged mitochondria, without impacting PINK-1 regulation
broadly," said Nicholas Hertz,
Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer, Mitokinin. "We
believe this approach could potentially deliver significant
clinical benefit to Parkinson's patients."
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay Mitokinin
shareholders $110 million at closing
for the acquisition of Mitokinin. Mitokinin shareholders remain
eligible for potential additional payments of up to $545 million upon the achievement of certain
development and commercial milestones related to the success of the
PINK1 program, plus tiered royalties based on net sales.
About AbbVie
AbbVie's mission is to discover and
deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious
health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow.
We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across
several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience,
and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics
portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us
at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie
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Twitter), and YouTube.
About Mitokinin
Mitokinin was founded in 2013 based on
technology discovered by scientific co-founders Nicholas Hertz and Kevan
Shokat at UCSF. Investors include Mission BioCapital, Pfizer
Ventures, and Samambaia Investments.
AbbVie Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements
in this news release are, or may be considered, forward-looking
statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project"
and similar expressions and uses of future or conditional verbs,
generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that
these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
challenges to intellectual property, competition from other
products, difficulties inherent in the research and development
process, adverse litigation or government action, and changes to
laws and regulations applicable to our industry. Additional
information about the economic, competitive, governmental,
technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations
is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," of AbbVie's 2022 Annual
Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, as updated by its subsequent Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q. AbbVie undertakes no obligation, and specifically
declines, to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking
statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except
as required by law.
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SOURCE AbbVie