AbbVie Doubles Down on Alzheimer’s With $1.4B Aliada Buy

 

The acquisition of Aliada Therapeutics gives AbbVie access to a Phase I anti-amyloid antibody as well as the biotech’s novel platform engineered for efficient blood-brain barrier transport.

With several early- to mid-stage assets already in its pipeline, AbbVie took an even deeper dive into the Alzheimer’s space Monday with the acquisition of Aliada Therapeutics.

At the heart of the deal—which will see AbbVie pay $1.4 billion in cash to acquire the Boston-based biotech—is ALIA-1758, an anti-amyloid antibody currently in Phase I development for Alzheimer’s disease. This is the same drug class that recently burst onto the scene in the form of Biogen/Eisai’s Leqembi and Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, both approved in the last two years as the first disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s.

The acquisition also gives AbbVie access to Aliada’s Modular Delivery (MODEL) platform, which is “engineered for both efficient BBB (blood-brain barrier) transport and downstream therapeutic functionality,” according to the company’s website.

In an investor note Monday, BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan David Seigerman said BMO views the deal “as positive for AbbVie shares, albeit risky given the indication and stage of development, expanding into a therapeutic area it knows well and continuing to bolster its pipeline for long term growth beyond recent commercial success with Skyrizi & Rinvoq.”

Stifel analysts added in an investor note that the deal “seemingly offers a vote of confidence in amyloid, just as sentiment in the space is reaching an all-time low.”

ALIA-1758 targets pyroglutamate amyloid beta, which is similar to the epitope targeted by Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, John Dunlop, chief scientific officer at Aliada, previously told BioSpace. The novel technology targets transferrin and CD98 receptors TfR and CD98, which are highly expressed in the brain’s endothelial cells, and uses the transferrin receptor to drive its cargo to cells and force degradation and elimination of the plaques, Dunlop explained. By transporting the cargo in this way, a higher concentration of the antibodies is delivered across the blood-brain barrier to drive therapeutic benefit.

“Many promising CNS-targeted therapies fail to reach late-stage trials due to their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier,” Michael Ryan, chief medical officer at Aliada, said in a statement Monday, adding that the company is “excited about AbbVie’s commitment to bringing ALIA-1758 to patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”

AbbVie already has a considerable presence in the Alzheimer’s R&D space, and Seigerman noted that Aliada’s assets are potentially complementary to a number of Alzheimer’s assets that AbbVie already has in development. The company’s pipeline includes ABBV-916, an anti-AβpE3 antibody; ABBV-552, an SV2A modulator being evaluated to target nerve terminals to enhance synaptic efficiency; and AL002, an antibody being developed in partnership with Alector Therapeutics.

“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,” Roopal Thakkar, EVP of research and development and chief scientific officer at AbbVie, said in a statement. Aliada’s platform “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.”

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

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