Lilly remunerates AC Immune; Akero adds $70M; Ra Pharma $100M

Lilly remunerates AC Immune USD 81 Million for preclinical Alzheimer’s drug

Eli Lilly has remunerated USD 81 million upfront for the global rights to AC Immune’s tau aggregation inhibitors in Alzheimer’s disease. The agreement provides Lilly ownership of a small molecule that has prevented tau aggregation in preclinical models. Switzerland based AC Immune’s tau program has sought to discover and develop small molecules that disaggregate tau proteins and prevent the misfolded proteins from aggregating in the first place. AC Immune targets to decrease pathological tau aggregates and thereby improve the memories of people with Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

Akero Therapeutics adds another USD 70 Million

Akero Therapeutics has added USD 70 million in its B round that will push its lead asset, a treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) that is licensed from Amgen. Akero will also build out its metabolic disease pipeline and boost its manufacturing capabilities. Akero’s lead asset, AKR-001, is an analogue of long-acting fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hormone involved in regulating metabolism and signalling in the body. But native FGF21 has a short half-life, which is only about half an hour and would require frequent dosing.

Ra Pharma records USD 100 Million round

With a phase 2 win for its lead drug zilucoplan in rare disease myasthenia gravis (MG), Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ra Pharma has filed a public funding round. Ra Pharma has stated top-line results, apprising regarding a daily subcutaneous dose of the complement C5 inhibitor drug results in an important reduction in symptom scores in patients with MG compared to placebo.