Novartis has bet up to $772 million to gain access to BioArctic’s BrainTransporter platform, which was leveraged in a partnership with Eisai to produce Leqembi.
Novartis has fronted $30 million to partner with BioArctic to leverage the Swedish biotech’s platform for crossing the blood-brain barrier. The partnership will advance a novel therapy for a yet-undisclosed neurodegenerative disorder.
Aside from its upfront commitment, the pharma will also be on the hook for up to $772 million in milestone payments, plus tiered mid-single digit royalties on sales, if the partnered asset makes it to the market.
Under the terms of the agreement, BioArctic will use its proprietary BrainTransporter platform for shuttling drugs across the blood-brain barrier, in combination with a therapeutic antibody from Novartis to produce a new drug candidate. Novartis will then have the option to take the candidate forward, assuming full responsibility of global development and commercialization.
Novartis is the third pharma powerhouse to buy into BioArctic’s brain penetration platform. The first—and arguably most impactful—Big Pharma deal came in April 2024, when Eisai signed on to use the technology for a then-unspecified treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. That asset would eventually become Leqembi, the first anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s therapy to win the FDA’s full approval.
Months after the Eisai deal, BioArctic got $100 million in an upfront payment from Bristol Myers Squibb, which secured the exclusive right to develop and commercialize BAN1503 and BAN2803, both brain-penetrant antibodies targeting a specific form of amyloid-beta. The agreement also includes up to $1.25 billion in milestones, plus tiered low double-digit royalties.
For Novartis, the BioArctic deal marks the second blood-brain barrier deal in as many months. In July, the pharma bet $175 million in upfront and near-term payments for the option to acquire full rights to Sironax’s proprietary Brain Delivery Module technology, which allows the delivery of various therapeutic molecules across the barrier.
Novartis’ fellow Big Pharma players have also upped their blood-brain investments over the past year. GSK, for instance, put nearly $2.8 billion on the line to partner with ABL Bio and use its shuttle platform Grabody-B for neurodegenerative disorders. That same month, Eli Lilly bet up to $1.4 billion in a partnership with Sangamo Therapeutics and its neurotropic viral capsid STAC-BBB.
