AlzeCure Pharma has signed a collaboration and out-licensing agreement with Eli Lilly granting the US company global rights to the Alzheimer’s project Alzstatin ACD680.

The deal includes a $10 million USD upfront payment, development and commercial milestones, and tiered mid single digit royalties. AlzeCure said the total value of the agreement, excluding royalties, may exceed $1 billion USD.

Alzstatin ACD680 is a gamma secretase modulator designed to reduce production of the harmful amyloid beta protein Aβ42, which forms the basis of amyloid plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The compound is also intended to increase levels of shorter, benign Aβ proteins, Aβ37 and Aβ38, which may help limit aggregation of Aβ42 and reduce plaque build-up.

Johan Sandin, Chief Scientific Officer at AlzeCure Pharma, said: “Gamma secretase modulators, which we have developed within the Alzstatin platform, are small molecule drugs where the mechanism has a strong genetic link to the disease.”

AlzeCure’s CEO Martin Jönsson said: “The Alzstatin compounds are hoped to be used to counteract re-accumulation of harmful amyloid in the brain. In the long term, these compounds may also serve as a preventive treatment to prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Jönsson added: “The agreement with Lilly is an important milestone for AlzeCure and Alzstatin.”

The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Swedish authorities under foreign direct investment regulations.

Deep Science Ventures (DSV) and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) have formed a strategic partnership to tackle one of modern medicine’s most persistent challenges: delivering medicines effectively into the brain.

Although scientific advances have revealed numerous therapeutic targets for neurological diseases, transporting treatments across the blood-brain barrier and into the central nervous system remains a major obstacle. With the World Health Organization estimating that over 40% of the global population is living with CNS diseases, the need for new approaches is urgent.

The collaboration aims to identify and develop technologies that could improve brain entry for medicines, opening opportunities for rare neurological disorders as well as large, underserved patient groups, including those with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and various brain cancers. The partners believe that addressing these gaps could improve patient outcomes while creating new commercial pathways for biotech and pharma companies.

The first phase will involve a detailed review of the current medicines landscape to pinpoint innovation opportunities and systemic gaps in brain entry technologies. Approaches that meet the partners’ investment criteria may be spun out into new ventures and provided with pre-seed funding.

DSV’s model centres on building future founding teams to create companies that address complex, cross-sector challenges.