Takeda nabs option to license Alzheimer’s immunotherapies from AC Immune

Takeda Pharmaceutical is betting potentially billions of dollars on drugs designed to slow Alzheimer’s disease by harnessing the immune system.

Through a deal announced Monday, Takeda has secured an exclusive option to license “active immunotherapies” from the Swiss biotechnology company AC Immune. The agreement pertains to programs targeting what many researchers believe to be a root cause of Alzheimer’s — a protein known as amyloid beta. Among those programs is a vaccine currently being tested in a roughly 140-person study titled “Abate.”

Per deal terms, Takeda holds an exclusive option to license global rights to the vaccine and any other AC immunotherapy directed at amyloid beta. In exchange, AC will receive $100 million upfront.

Should Takeda exercise its option, it would make another one-time payment in the low-to-mid nine-figure range. Altogether, AC could receive up to approximately $2.1 billion, provided its programs hit certain development, commercial and sales-based milestones.

AC is also entitled to sales royalties on any products that stem from the deal.

“Combining AC Immune’s deep experience with active immunotherapy approaches with Takeda’s expertise in neuroscience drug development and commercialization, we have an incredible opportunity to deliver real impact to the Alzheimer’s community,” said Sarah Sheikh, Takeda’s head of global development and leader of the company’s neuroscience therapeutic area unit, in a statement.

Takeda isn’t the first big pharmaceutical firm to see value in AC’s research. The smaller drugmaker counts Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly as collaboration partners. It also licensed out to Roche an Alzheimer’s therapy called crenezumab, though that drug ultimately failed across a series of high-profile tests.

Like crenezumab, AC’s immunotherapies are meant to break up toxic accumulations of misfolded amyloid beta in the brain. The company’s vaccine, though, works somewhat differently. It’s designed to spur the immune system into making antibodies that specifically target these proteins.

The ongoing Abate study is the most important test yet for AC’s vaccine. It began about two years ago and is expected to produce results around June 2026.

AC Immune remains responsible for completing the study. But, if Takeda exercises its new option, it would take charge of all further clinical development. Takeda would also lead global regulatory activities as well as worldwide commercialization.

Shares of AC Immune were up about 35% Monday morning, to trade at $3.12 apiece.