AbbVie’s portfolio and pipeline is thin on brain drugs, particularly in the area of neurodegeneration. The pharmaceutical giant is taking steps to remedy that deficiency by striking a deal: the acquisition of a UCB spinout that’s already reached the clinic with a drug that takes a new approach to brain disorders and has potential applications that include Alzheimer’s disease.
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North Chicago, Illinois-based AbbVie announced Tuesday that it paid $130 million up front to acquire Syndesi Therapeutics. Milestone payments could bring shareholders of the biotech up to $870 million more.
The anchor of AbbVie’s neuroscience portfolio is probably botox. The product, which came to AbbVie in the 2020 Allergan acquisition, is approved for a range of therapeutic indications that include treating muscle spasticity from a stroke or other injury, as well as preventing migraine headaches. Therapeutic botox accounted for $2.45 billion in 2021 sales, making it the company’s top neuro product.
AbbVie’s neuroscience drug prospects are from its partnership with Calico Life Sciences, a firm founded by Google parent company Alphabet. The AbbVie/Calico alliance, started in 2014, has advanced three programs to clinical testing in neurodegeneration and cancer. Last year, the alliance was extended for a second time to continue clinical development of the partnered projects. AbbVie’s Syndesi acquisition gives the pharma company an additional shot at neurodegeneration.
Syndesi, which is based in Belgium, aims to treat brain disorders by reducing the symptoms of cognitive impairment. The company’s drugs are small molecules that modulate synaptic transmission, which is the communication that happens between neurons in the brain. The biotech notes that disruption of the synaptic connectivity is found in Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Syndesi, which takes its name from the Greek word for “connection,” develops drugs that target synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A), a protein that plays a key role in regulating neurotransmission. UCB has already developed and commercialized two products that address this target, the epilepsy drugs Keppra and Briviact.
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Lead Syndesi drug candidate SDI-118 came from UCB research of molecules that regulate SV2A, but to improve cognition rather than stop epileptic seizures. In 2017, the Belgian pharmaceutical company established a partnership with an investor group that included Novo Holdings, Fountain Healthcare Partners, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation—JJDC. This investment group formed Syndesi in 2017; the startup licensed SDI-118 from UCB in 2018.
Syndesi’s molecule is currently in early-stage clinical development as a way to target nerve terminals to enhance synaptic efficiency. Clinical trial records show the drug is currently in two Phase 1b tests, one enrolling elderly patients with cognitive decline and the other testing the drug candidate in adults in remission from depression. Tom Hudson, senior vice president, R&D, and chief scientific officer of AbbVie, said that his company plans to evaluate the Syndesi molecule in a range of brain disorders.
“There is a major unmet need for new therapies that can help improve cognitive function in patients suffering from difficult-to-treat neurologic diseases,” Hudson said in a prepared statement. “With AbbVie’s acquisition of Syndesi, we aim to advance the research of a novel, first-in-class asset for the potential treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.”
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