① Similar to previous infusion therapy, the AC Immune vaccine is designed to produce antibodies against beta-amyloid; ② However, compared to infusion treatment, the vaccine can greatly reduce the number of treatments required; ③ According to the progress of ACI-24.060, there are still several years to go until regulatory approval.
Finance Association, May 13 (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) Just as many new medicines for Alzheimer's disease are still awaiting regulation and release, new, more convenient and economical treatments have quietly entered the view of the capital market.
On Monday local time, two NASDAQ listed companies, Japan's Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Takeda), and Swiss startup AC Immune announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with a total value of up to $2.2 billion. According to the announcement, Takeda will receive an exclusive global option and license for AC Immune's active immunotherapy ACI-24.060 for Alzheimer's disease, and will also provide support in subsequent clinical trials of the drug.
(Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical's official website)
As of press time, AC Immune has risen 35% in the US, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals has declined slightly.
More convenient treatments
Similar to Japanese Eisai's lecanemab and Eli Lilly's Donanemab, AC Immune therapy also targets beta-amyloid. By reducing this abnormal accumulation of plaques, the effect of slowing the progression of the disease is achieved.
However, this type of drug also has a core problem: in addition to being expensive, the process of using the medication is also quite complicated. Take Lecanemab, which received historic FDA approval, for example. This drug, which costs $25,600 a year, requires intravenous infusions — 38 infusions in 18 months. At the same time, patients also need regular MRI scans to monitor for potential side effects (brain hemorrhage, etc.).
Vaccines, on the other hand, will drastically lower the threshold for receiving treatment.
Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune, said that compared to antibody infusion therapy, the vaccine treatment process is more convenient and less expensive, and may only require 2 to 4 injections per year.
Pfeifer said that the characteristics of the antibodies induced by the company's vaccine are very similar to those of proven antibody drugs, which should be the main factor driving this deal.
There is still a way to go until the listing
According to the agreement between the two parties, Takeda Pharmaceuticals will pay an advance payment of 100 million US dollars to AC Immune, and in addition, in line with additional development and commercial milestones, Takeda will also pay an additional milestone payment of up to 2.1 billion US dollars. After the drug is finally marketed, AC Immune will also receive a “double digit percentage” of global sales patent shares.
Currently, this drug is undergoing phase 1b/2 clinical trials. Pfeifer also revealed that AC Immune does not have data on the efficacy of this drug until the mid-term trial is completed within the next 12 months.
Pfeifer said that with the signing of this agreement, the Japanese pharmaceutical giant may advance the drug to phase 3 clinical trials, but it will still take several years to obtain regulatory approval.
According to statistics, up to 70% of the 55 million people with dementia worldwide have Alzheimer's disease. As the population ages, the number of people with this disease will far exceed 100 million by 2050.
Pfeifer also drew a “pie” for the entire market on Monday: with advances in biotechnology, eventually there will be a vaccine that can treat Alzheimer's disease before humans develop it.
In early human attempts to fight Alzheimer's disease, there was no shortage of cases where “vaccines induce the immune system to attack healthy cells.” In response, Pfeifer said that until now, the scientific community has a better understanding of how to make the body produce antibodies against amyloid beta.