AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Aliada Therapeutics 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.