Neurimmune announces link-up with AstraZeneca

Neurimmune AG, a biopharmaceutical company based in the Greater Zurich Area, has announced that it has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Alexion. The AstraZeneca subsidiary specializes in rare diseases. According to a press release issued by the company from Schlieren in the canton of Zurich, the aim of this partnership will be to develop and commercialize the cardiovascular medication NI006. As part of the agreement, Neuroimmune will receive an upfront payment of 30 million US dollars with the potential for additional payments of up to 730 million US dollars. These milestone payments as well as license fees will be due upon attainment of certain development, regulatory and commercial goals. Alexion will receive exclusive, global licensing rights for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of NI006.

The human monoclonal antibody NI006 binds to disease-causing forms of transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) and removes amyloid deposits from heart tissue in patients. ATTR cardiomyopathy is a debilitating disease that leads to heart failure and death. With its Reverse Translational Medicine technology, Neurimmune has “developed a human monoclonal antibody that exclusively targets ATTR to remove amyloid from hearts”, explains Jan Grimm, Chief Scientific Officer at Neurimmune, in the press release.

According to Christoph Hock, Chief Marketing Officer at Neurimmune, the company is convinced that the partnership will successfully advance development and commercialization activities in relation to NI006 thanks to “Alexion’s extensive experience in developing and bringing to market medicines for people with rare diseases”.