Roche drops a third Alzheimer’s candidate this year, terminating a partnership with UCB just four years after agreeing to work together on new treatments for the neurological disease.
Roche has cut short a partnership with UCB in Alzheimer’s disease, handing rights to a Phase IIa prospect back just over four years after signing the deal.
This is the second time this year that Roche has cut an Alzheimer’s partnership, after sending two failed assets back to AC Immune in January.
UCB and Roche’s Genentech unit agreed in July 2020 to develop bepranemab, then known as UCB0107, for $120 million upfront and up to $2 billion in potential milestones.
The end of the partnership was revealed as UCB announced the acceptance of an abstract for a Phase IIa study of bepranemab at the 2024 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease Meeting scheduled for Spain later this month.
UCB said that the rights to the drug had been handed back after the termination of the agreement with Roche. No further details were provided.
Roche listed bepranemab as headed for a regulatory filing in 2027 or beyond as of its first quarter earnings presentation in April. The therapy was not featured in the company’s second quarter earnings presentation at the half year.
Roche has long been in the hunt for the next Alzheimer’s treatment but fell way behind when its late-stage candidate gantenerumab failed a pair of Phase III trials in 2022. Meanwhile, peers Eisai/Biogen and Eli Lilly have charged ahead with their groundbreaking new anti-amyloid antibodies Leqembi and Kisunla, the first new treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease in years.
Back to the drawing board, Roche is developing several early-stage assets for the disorder. Until today, bepranemab was among them. That leaves RG6289 and trontinemab, which are both in Phase II. Roche showcased promising Phase Ib/IIa data for trontinemab in March, suggesting the treatment had a “rapid and robust” impact on amyloid plaque reduction.
Roche’s announcement about the end of its UCB collaboration comes days after Johnson & Johnson trimmed a candidate for Alzheimer’s disease agitation or aggression.
