Biogen exercises option on Denali's amyloid beta program

US biotech major Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) today announced that it has exercised its option to license Denali Therapeutic’s (Nasdaq: DNLI) antibody transport vehicle (ATV): Amyloid beta program (ATV:Aβ), lifting the latter’s shares up 3% in early trading.

The option was part of a binding agreement signed in 2020, to co-develop and co-commercialize Denali’s small molecule inhibitors of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) for Parkinson’s disease, which was worth more than $2 billion in total, with $560 million paid upfront.

Accumulation of Aβ plaque in the brain is a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), noted Biogen, which is already heavily committed to AD research under its partnership with Japan’s Eisai (TYO: 4523), which has resulted in the development and US approval in January this year of Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb), as well as the less auspicious controversially approved first new AD drug Aduhelm (aducanumab) in decades in 2021.