AstraZeneca buys Link Medicines neuroscience assets; enters Alzheimer's project

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has acquired a portfolio of neuroscience assets from Link Medicine Corp, a privately held US biopharmaceutical company. Link Medicine has focused its R&D efforts in the field of autophagy, an intracellular process that clears and recycles misfolded proteins and has been developing potential new treatments for a range of neurodegenerative diseases.

The London-headquartered company acquired multiple small-molecule assets in clinical and preclinical stage that target the enzyme farnesyltransferase and modulate autophagy. Autophagy is an emerging area of research that can be applied to a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Both of these conditions are characterized by a build-up of incorrectly folded, aggregated and ultimately neurotoxic proteins.

The deal is the third for AstraZeneca's new neuroscience Innovative Medicines Unit, which was established earlier this year. Under this new model, AstraZeneca is continuing to invest in neuroscience discovery research and early development for small and large molecules by tapping into the best available external science.