AbbVie to Buy US Biotech Firm Aliada for $1.4 Billion
US drugmaker AbbVie has signed an agreement to acquire biotechnology company Aliada Therapeutics, which develops therapies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases using a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology to address challenging central nervous system (CNS) diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will acquire all outstanding Aliada equity for $1.4 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Aliada's lead investigational asset, ALIA-1758, is an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody in development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
The Boston, US-based company 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.
Roopal Thakkar, AbbVie’s executive vice president, research and development and chief scientific officer, said: "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."
Michael Ryan, chief medical officer at Aliada Therapeutics, added: "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."
