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Eli Lilly Signs Alzheimer's Licensing Deal Worth Over $1 Billion With AlzeCure

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Eli Lilly Signs Alzheimer's Licensing Deal Worth Over $1 Billion With AlzeCure

Eli Lilly (LLY) shares were up early Tuesday as the drugmaker entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement worth over $1 billion with Swedish pharmaceutical company AlzeCure Pharma for global rights to its investigative candidate for Alzheimer's disease.

Under the terms of the deal, Lilly will pay $10 million upfront to AlzeCure, which will also be eligible for mid-single-digit royalties on sales, the Swedish company said. Development and commercial milestone payments could push the total value of the transaction above $1 billion, excluding royalties.

Lilly's stock increased 1.1% in the most recent premarket activity.

AlzeCure is developing Alzstatin ACD680, a gamma-secretase modulator, to reduce the production of the harmful amyloid-beta protein, which forms the building blocks of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, the company said.

"The Alzstatin compounds are hoped to be used to counteract re-accumulation of harmful amyloid in the brain," AlzeCure Chief Executive Martin Jonsson said in a statement. "In the long term, these compounds may also serve as a preventive treatment to prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease."

The deal requires approval from regulatory authorities in Sweden, according to AlzeCure.

"The agreement with Lilly is an important milestone for AlzeCure and Alzstatin," Jonsson said.

Lilly didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by.

Lilly recently announced that its experimental obesity drug retatrutide delivered significant weight loss in two clinical studies and showed "meaningful" improvements in knee osteoarthritis pain and sleep apnea. The company also announced that overweight or obese women taking the highest dose of its obesity pill Foundayo, or orforglipron, lost weight across all stages of menopause in late-stage trials.

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