AC Immune SA gets Lilly milestone for Alzheimers’ candidate

In only 15 months of time, AC Immune has been progressing its the small molecule Morphomer™ Tau  aggregation inhibitor candidate ACI-3024 into Phase I testing. The collaboration between Lilly and AC Immune focussing on the broad development of Morphomer™ Tau aggregation inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases started in December 2018 with a CHF80m milestone payment and CHF50m equity investment by Lilly.

Lilly made a first milestone payment of CHF30m in September 2019. Under the original deal, AC Immune received CHF 130 million in upfront cash and convertible equity and was eligible to receive additional milestones and sales fees up to about CHF 1.7 billion, bringing the total deal value to approximately CHF1.82 billion. The initial milestone payment of CHF 60 million has been modified so that Lilly paid AC Immune CHF 30 million during Q3 2019 and CHF 10 million in Q1 2020. AC Immune now is eligible for a new additional milestone payment of CHF 60 million. The change increases the total deal potential value to CHF 1.86 billion. No changes were made to other later-stage milestones or royalty terms.

 “This new Phase II milestone  increases the total deal value and offers a new significant potential source of medium-term non-dilutive financing," said Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune SA.

Tau is a Alzheimers’ target and ACI-3024 is the most advanced orally available small molecule therapeutic candidate of its kind in development. ACI-3024’s proposed mechanism of action targets both intracellular and extracellular Tau aggregates, potentially slowing or stopping the accumulation and propagation of pathological Tau aggregates in AD patients.

Under the agreement AC Immune is conducting a Phase I trial of ACI-3024 initiated in July while Lilly will fund and conduct further clinical development and commercialisation. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, sequential single and multiple ascending dose study, AC Immune will assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of ACI-3024 in healthy volunteers. Headline results will be published by the second half of 2020 by Lilly.