Acumen and JCR Pharmaceuticals Partner to Develop Enhanced Brain Delivery Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease

16 July 2025 | Wednesday | News

Collaboration combines Acumen’s AβO-targeting antibodies with JCR’s J-Brain Cargo® technology to advance next-generation Alzheimer’s treatments; preclinical data package expected in early 2026.

Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABOS) (“Acumen” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel therapeutic that targets toxic soluble amyloid beta oligomers (AβOs) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), today announced a collaboration, option and license agreement with JCR Pharmaceuticals (“JCR”) to develop an oligomer-targeted Enhanced Brain Delivery (EBDTM) therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. JCR is a global specialty pharmaceuticals company that applies scientific expertise and unique technologies to research, develop, and deliver next-generation therapies.

While the blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the human brain from potentially harmful substances, this protective barrier makes it challenging to deliver therapeutics, especially larger molecules like biologics, into the brain at higher quantities. The combination of sabirnetug or additional, novel, AβO-selective antibodies with JCR’s BBB-penetrating technology (J-Brain Cargo®) strengthens Acumen’s portfolio of AβO-targeted therapies. The partnership is designed to advance potential next-generation treatment options for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, by targeting the development of products with enhanced efficacy, safety and convenience.  

“We are thrilled to enter into this collaboration pairing Acumen’s AβO-targeted antibody expertise with JCR’s validated proprietary BBB-penetrating technology after completion of a number of feasibility experiments with JCR over the past year,” said Daniel O’Connell, Chief Executive Officer of Acumen. “Coupling Acumen’s differentiated mechanistic approach using AβO-preferring antibodies with JCR’s innovative transferrin BBB-delivery platform may support the advancement of an exciting next-generation therapeutic option for this area of significant unmet need. Following a robust search and evaluation process assessing multiple technologies in the space, we are excited to formalize this collaboration with an established leader who has successfully developed an approved therapy in Japan. We look forward to producing preclinical data packages in early 2026 that will further inform our EBDTMdevelopment strategy.”

J-Brain Cargo® technology is JCR’s proprietary drug delivery system that efficiently delivers drugs to target tissues, including the central nervous system, through receptor-mediated transcytosis. It is applicable to various modalities including antibodies, enzymes, oligonucleotides, lipid nanoparticles, gene and cell therapy, peptides and decoy receptors. The first drug developed based on this technology is approved in Japan for the treatment of a lysosomal storage disorder, exhibiting an established safety profile.

Acumen’s lead program, sabirnetug, is the first humanized monoclonal antibody to demonstrate in AD patients selective target engagement of AβOs, a soluble and highly synaptotoxic form of Aβ that accumulates early in AD and is a persistent trigger of synaptic dysfunction and neurodegeneration. The Phase 1 INTERCEPT-AD clinical trial demonstrated sabirnetug was generally well-tolerated with low overall rates of ARIA-E. The trial also showed dose- and exposure-dependent target engagement with AβOs and additionally showed statistically significant amyloid plaque reduction compared to placebo at higher dose multiple-ascending dose cohorts evaluated in the study.

Acumen is currently investigating sabirnetug in ALTITUDE-AD (NCT06335173) a Phase 2, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial that enrolled 542 patients with early AD at sites in the United States, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Enrollment completion in the trial was announced in March 2025. Acumen plans to share topline results, including efficacy and safety data, in late 2026.

Collaboration Details and Next Steps

  • Acumen and JCR have collaborated for more than a year conducting feasibility work to assess the combination of JCR’s transferrin targeting technology with Acumen’s AβO-targeting antibodies.
  • JCR’s transferrin receptor binding platform includes a library of both scFv (single chain variable fragment antibodies) and VHHs (variable heavy domain antibodies), molecules related to the full IgG used in their approved therapy, IZCARGO®.
  • In addition to sabirnetug, the collaboration is also investigating other oligomer-specific antibodies in Acumen’s library to further establish lifecycle opportunities.
  • A preclinical candidate (PCC) data package, inclusive of a non-human primate study, is expected in early 2026, at which point Acumen has an exclusive right to exercise its option to develop up to two development candidates.

Financial Terms

  • Under the terms of the agreement, JCR will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible for an additional option payment should Acumen exercise its exclusive option to develop up to two development candidates. JCR will also be eligible to receive future development, commercialization and sales milestone payments, as well as single digit percentage royalties on sales of any products that emerge from the collaboration.

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