GSK and Alector first partnered in 2021 to advance two antibodies for neurodegenerative diseases. Both assets have since failed to show significant clinical benefit.
GSK is officially walking away from Alector after the partners’ neurodegenerative alliance failed to deliver decisive clinical wins.
The pharma informed Alector of the termination on July 6, which will take effect on Jan. 2, 2027, according to a securities disclosure from the biotech posted Wednesday. Alector also said it had “repaid in full” and subsequently terminated a 2024 loan and securities agreement with Hercules Capital. That deal included a $10 million initial tranche; Alector repaid $10.43 million, including interest.
GSK and Alector first joined hands in July 2021, with the pharma fronting $700 million to advance a pair of antibody therapies for neurodegenerative conditions. GSK at the time put an additional $1.5 billion on the line in R&D, regulatory and commercialization milestones—though much of that remains unpaid.
In October 2025, the first candidate under the collaboration, a progranulin modulator called latozinemab, failed to significantly slow disease progression in a Phase 3 study of frontotemporal dementia. While the therapeutic antibody exerted a “significant effect” on levels of progranulin, a key disease biomarker, the asset missed key secondary endpoints, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures, GSK and Alector said at the time.
The late-stage stumble prompted the companies to pull the plug on latozinemab and pushed Alector to downsize by 49% in a strategic business review, laying off around 116 employees, according to a BioSpace estimate.
Then, in April, GSK and Alector ran into another clinical roadblock when the second alliance asset—an antibody called nivisnebart—failed to show any sign of significant efficacy in a Phase 2 Alzheimer’s disease trial. An independent data board concluded that pushing through with the study would be futile, leaving the companies with little choice but to discontinue the trial.
The partners at the time did not say whether they would also scrap nivisnebart, but with the contract termination this week, the asset will no longer be GSK’s responsibility. Alector also no longer lists the candidate on its pipeline page.
Neuro has been giving Alector a difficult time. In November 2024, before the back-to-back stumbles for the GSK-partnered drugs, the biotech reported a mid-stage flop in Alzheimer’s disease with an AbbVie-allied antibody called AL002 failing to slow clinical progression. That setback triggered a 17% layoff for Alector.
As of March 31, Alector had $354.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments, enough to sustain its runway into the second half of 2027.
