- Aliada's lead compound, ALIA-1758, an anti-pyroglutamate
amyloid beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody, is a potential best-in-class
therapy for Alzheimer's disease
- Acquisition also allows AbbVie to utilize Aliada's novel
blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology to enhance discovery
and development efforts across neuroscience
NORTH
CHICAGO, Ill. and BOSTON, Oct. 28,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Aliada
Therapeutics today announced a definitive agreement under which
AbbVie will acquire Aliada, a biotechnology company advancing
therapies using a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing
technology to address challenging central nervous system (CNS)
diseases. Aliada's lead investigational asset utilizing this
delivery technology, ALIA-1758, is an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid
beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody in development for the treatment of
Alzheimer's disease.
"Neuroscience is one of our key growth areas and we are
committed to driving innovation in this field to address critical
unmet needs for patients living with seriously debilitating
neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said
Roopal Thakkar, M.D., executive vice
president, research and development and chief scientific officer,
AbbVie. "This acquisition immediately positions us to advance
ALIA-1758, a potentially best-in-class disease-modifying therapy
for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, 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."
"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Aliada by AbbVie
and are excited about AbbVie's commitment to bringing ALIA-1758 to
patients with Alzheimer's disease. Our proprietary MODEL™ platform
has enabled the development of ALIA-1758, a promising step forward
in brain delivery of an anti-amyloid antibody therapy," said
Michael Ryan, M.D., chief medical
officer at Aliada Therapeutics. "Many promising CNS-targeted
therapies fail to reach late-stage trials due to their inability to
cross the blood-brain barrier. Our MODEL™ platform addresses this
challenge directly, efficiently delivering targeted drugs and
potentially transforming how we treat neurological
diseases."
Aliada is advancing therapeutic candidates using its Modular
Delivery (MODEL™) platform, engineered for high-precision CNS drug
delivery. The novel BBB-crossing technology targets transferrin and
CD98 receptors (TfR and CD98) which are highly expressed in brain
endothelial cells. By engineering highly optimized TfR or CD98
binders, this platform is designed to deliver different types of
biological cargoes into the brain, including therapeutic antibodies
and genetic medicines such as siRNA.
ALIA-1758 utilizes TfR to transport a 3pE-Aβ antibody across the
BBB to enable degradation and elimination of amyloid beta plaques,
a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. This
investigational candidate is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial
to assess its safety and tolerability in healthy participants
(NCT06406348).
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will acquire all
outstanding Aliada equity for $1.4 billion in cash,
subject to certain customary adjustments. This transaction is
expected to close in 4Q2024, subject to regulatory approvals and
other customary closing conditions.
Advisors
AbbVie's legal advisor was Covington & Burling LLP. Aliada's
exclusive financial advisor was Centerview Partners LLC and Fenwick
& West LLP served as legal advisor.
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 on
LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and
YouTube.
About Aliada Therapeutics
Aliada Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on
addressing delivery challenges in CNS drug development. Aliada is
developing next-generation CNS therapeutics with its novel
BBB-crossing Modular Delivery (MODEL™) platform technology, which
has been shown to efficiently transport diverse therapeutic cargoes
into the brain, enhancing effectiveness and addressing the critical
need for efficient and versatile large molecule and oligonucleotide
delivery. Johnson & Johnson (through its venture capital arm,
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc.), RA Capital
Management, and Raven (RA Capital Management's incubator)
co-founded Aliada and co-led the series seed financing in 2021 to
advance the MODEL™ platform created by Johnson & Johnson
scientists that was licensed to Aliada at its inception. Further
investment was made by OrbiMed and Sanofi Ventures.
For more information visit www.aliadatx.com and follow us
on LinkedIn and X.
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 2023 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