AZ and Lilly come together to battle Alzheimer’s
pharmafile | December 9, 2016 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AZ, lilly
Pharma titans Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have announced they are to join forces to co-develop a potential Alzheimer’s treatment, currently in Phase 1 trials.
MEDI1814 is an amyloid beta 42-selective antibody which works by reducing the accumulation of the peptide in the brain which is thought to lead to the disease and could work to slow its progression.
The move comes after the shocking failure of Lilly’s Alzheimer’s treatment solanezumab for the second time and also follows on from a previous collaboration over BACE inhibitor AZD3293 which entered Phase 3 trials earlier this year.
Jan Lundberg, executive vice president of science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, commented: “We are pleased to be expanding our alliance with AstraZeneca to further build our pipeline of potential medicines and diagnostic agents. AstraZeneca brings capabilities and expertise and most importantly shares our passion to bring new medicines to patients suffering from this debilitating illness.”
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, IMED Biotech Unit and Business Development at AstraZeneca added: “We are excited to build on an already productive collaboration with Lilly, which combines the expertise of our two companies, with a new program focused on the amyloid-beta pathway. MEDI1814 has a unique mechanism among antibodies in clinical development and could provide a distinct approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease.”
Lilly is to make a $30 million payment up front to AstraZeneca as part of the deal.
Matt Fellows
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