BRIEF—Acadia extends deal with Neuren

USA-based Acadia Pharmaceuticals has expanded its current licensing agreement for trofinetide with Australian biotech Neuren Pharmaceuticals to acquire ex-North American rights to the drug as well as global rights in Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome to Neuren’s development candidate NNZ-2591.

In April of this year, Acadia launched trofinetide in the USA under the brand name Daybue as the first and only drug approved for the treatment of Rett syndrome.

In addition to expanding access to trofinetide outside of North America, this agreement gives Acadia exclusive worldwide rights to NNZ-2591 in both Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. NNZ-2591 is an investigational synthetic analogue of cyclo-glycyl-proline (cGP) which results from the breakdown of human insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).

NNZ-2591 is currently under development by Neuren in four other rare neurodevelopmental syndromes.

Under the terms of the expanded agreement, Neuren will receive an upfront payment of $100 million and is eligible to receive additional potential downstream milestone and royalty payments earned separately for trofinetide and NNZ-2591.