AbbVie Expands Alzheimer’s Research With Aliada Acquisition, Targeting Blood-Brain Barrier Delivery

AbbVie Inc. enters into a definitive acquisition deal to purchase Aliada Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on novel drug development, especially by utilising the blood-brain barrier (BBB) crossing technology, to target CNS diseases. Aliada’s ALIA-1758 is also considered the leading product in its pipeline, as it's a lead candidate in anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta(3pE-Aβ) for Alzheimer's. It utilises Aliada's Modular Delivery MODEL™ technology for drug dosing, specifically enhancing CNS drug delivery.

Roopal Thakkar, M.D., executive vice president, research and development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie, commented, "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."

He further continued, "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."

The MODEL™ platform applies to the transferrin and CD98 receptors TfR and CD98. Both are abundant in brain endothelial cells; hence, it allows therapeutic antibodies and genetic treatments in siRNA for direct delivery by establishing highly specific TfR or CD98 binders. ALIA-1758, now in Phase 1 development to demonstrate safety and tolerability, utilised the TfR mechanism to transport its 3pE-Aβ antibody across the BBB to target amyloid-beta plaques associated with Alzheimer's pathology.

Michael Ryan, M.D., chief medical officer at Aliada Therapeutics, stated, "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 anti-amyloid antibody therapy.” He 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." 

AbbVie will acquire all of Aliada's outstanding shares in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2024, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.