BioArctic received $100 million upfront with another $1.25 billion in potential milestone payments on the line for two pyroglutamate-amyloid-beta antibodies.
Bristol Myers Squibb is diving deeper into the Alzheimer’s space, tapping Eisai’s partner BioArctic for a deal that could be worth up to $1.35 billion biobucks.
After picking up an anti-tau monoclonal antibody last summer, BMS has now plunked down $100 million upfront for two new candidates to target the hallmark plaque of Alzheimer’s disease, BioArctic announced Thursday. BAN1503 and BAN2803 are part of BioArctic’s pyroglutamate-amyloid-beta antibody program. The novel antibodies target the pyroglutamate modified form of amyloid-beta believed to be more toxic and linked to an increase in the formation of the plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
BAN2803 includes BioArctic’s BrainTransporter technology, which utilizes the transferrin receptor protein to facilitate transport across the difficult to penetrate blood brain barrier. Analysts at RBC Capital have flagged the innovation as a potentially transformative approach in targeting amyloid beta plaques in the brain.
The BMS deal is BioArctic’s first licensing agreement to include BrainTransporter, which offers the “potential of faster uptake, improved efficacy, less side effects and lower doses for the benefit of both patients and society,” the biotech’s CEO Gunilla Osswald said in a statement.
News of the licensing deal shot the Swedish biotech’s stock up around 30% to over $20 a share on Thursday.
Last year, BMS invested heavily in its neuroscience portfolio with the $14 billion buy of Karuna Therapeutics for its investigational antipsychotic KarXT. The drug was then approved for schizophrenia in September, the first new treatment class for the indication in 35 years. The drug is in Phase III trials for Alzheimer’s psychosis with expected readouts in 2026.
BMS’s anti-MTBR tau monoclonal antibody picked up from Prothena in July 2023 is in Phase II testing in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. The primary endpoint is a change in severity of cognitive impairment with a projected data readout slated for 2027.
With recent approvals in the space, the Alzheimer’s market is projected to rapidly expand with some forecasts reaching $15.5 billion by 2031.
