Biopharmaceutical company AC Immune has reached an amended agreement with Eli Lilly for the development of an Alzheimer’s treatment. 

The amendment to the 2018 license includes an agreement on the collaboration to research and develop Tau aggregation inhibitor small molecules for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. That includes the development of new lead Tau Morphomer candidates and potential back-up compounds. 

Morphomer Tau candidates were selected for their ability to enter the brain when dosed orally, and for their specific binding to the targeted pathological conformation of the Tau protein. AC Immune has generated strong preclinical data suggesting that Tau Morphomers should be clinically relevant for inhibiting aggregation and seeding across pathological and disease stages. 

 Under the amendment, AC Immune will receive a CHF10 million ($12.5 million) upfront payment and a subsequent milestone payment with Phase I dosing, in addition to milestones announced in a prior amendment.  

AC Immune is eligible for further development, regulatory and commercial milestones of over CHF1.7 billion ($2.1 billion), plus tiered percentage royalty payments in the low double digits, as previously disclosed. 

“The progress in this collaboration highlights the important breakthroughs we have made with Morphomer small molecules for intracellular targeting of Tau,” said Dr Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune. 

“We look forward to working with the team at Lilly to drive forward the development of these potentially disruptive small molecule therapeutics for early-stage treatment and long-term prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.  

“Increasingly, the scientific evidence suggests that targeting intracellular Tau can slow or even completely halt the pathology. This collaboration exemplifies our work towards precision prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. We expect to initiate Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies imminently.” 

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