Ablynx gets 2 million-euro milestone from Boehringer Ingelheim Alzheimer's collaboration; latter to unveil positive data on cancer drug

German independent drug major Boehringer Ingelheim has selected a nanobody lead candidate for further development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease under an agreement with Belgium's Ablynx. This is the first lead candidate emerging from the collaboration and will result in a 2 million-euro ($2.5 million) milestone payment to Ablynx.

In January 2007, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ablynx announced that they had entered into a worldwide research and licensing agreement to discover and develop new therapies for Alzheimer's disease using Ablynx' nanobodies, worth a possible $265 million in milestone payments plus undisclosed royalties. The German firm is solely responsible for the development, manufacture and commercialization of any products resulting from the research collaboration.

"Ablynx' delivery of this potentially 'first-in-class' nanobody candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease highlights the speed at which we progressed from initiation of the discovery program in 2007 to this stage of development for a very challenging target," said Edwin Moses, chief executive and chairman of Ablynx. He added: "This lead candidate demonstrates the power of the Nanobody platform in addressing a complex disease such as Alzheimer's."