The deal will see Novartis gain global rights over SciNeuro’s potentially disease-modifying anti-amyloid antibody, which leverages the latter’s proprietary shuttle platform to allow delivery into the brain.
To kick off this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novartis is making a $1.5-billion bet with China-based SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals, entering into a worldwide licensing and collaboration deal for a next-generation anti-amyloid antibody program targeting Alzheimer’s disease.
For $165 million upfront, Novartis will gain the right to collaborate with SciNeuro on the program’s early development, according to a news release on Monday. The pharma will then take over for later clinical and product development, as well as global commercialization activities.
SciNeuro, which has offices in Shanghai and Maryland, will be eligible for up to $1.5 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties. The partners expect to close the transaction in the first half of this year.
The companies did not specify what particular anti-amyloid candidate they will work on, but on its website SciNeuro lists SNP234 as its only candidate that targets this particular disease marker. The investigational antibody is designed to selectively target the toxic clumps of amyloid-beta while avoiding the non-pathogenic forms, a mechanism that leads to the drug’s disease-modifying potential to slow cognitive decline and disease progression, according to the biotech.
SNP234 also uses SciNeuro’s proprietary shuttle platform, which allows its delivery into the brain, the biotech said in its Monday release, adding that the program offers “potential differentiation from existing amyloid beta targeted agents.”
Amyloid-beta is currently the only Alzheimer’s target to lead to a commercialized therapy. Arguably the biggest name in the space, Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi is also an antibody that targets disease-causing amyloid plaques. And a year after Leqembi’s 2023 approval, Eli Lilly brought its own anti-amyloid antibody, Kisunla, to market.
Then last month, Roche made its much-vaunted comeback in the Alzheimer’s arena with trontinemab, also an anti-amyloid antibody, which successfully cleared amyloid plaques in 92% of treated patients in a Phase I/II study.
Leqembi remains the leader in the space, however. Last September, the FDA cleared a subcutaneous formulation of the drug for maintenance treatment.
Beyond Alzheimer’s, Monday’s SciNeuro partnership continues what has been a prolific dealmaking stretch for Novartis. Last month, for instance, the pharma pledged more than $1.7 billion in a dermatology pact with Relation, leveraging the London biotech’s AI-driven engine to develop novel therapies for atopic conditions.
In September, Novartis snapped up Tourmaline Bio for $1.4 billion, bolstering its heart disease pipeline. Then, a month later, the company dropped $12 billion to swallow Avidity Biosciences and its pipeline of RNA programs for muscle dystrophies. The Avidity acquisition would turn out to be the second-biggest takeover of 2025.
