Why it matters: The move is another reminder of how difficult neurodegeneration remains for big pharma, even as Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia research attracts renewed investment after the first disease-modifying amyloid drugs reached the market.<\/p>\n
Backstory: GSK and Alector partnered on two progranulin-targeting antibodies: latozinemab, also known as AL001, and nivisnebart, also known as AL101.<\/p>\n
The original agreement gave Alector $700m upfront and left it eligible for up to $1.5bn in further development-related milestones, plus royalties.<\/p>\n
Zoom in: Latozinemab was being developed for frontotemporal dementia caused by progranulin gene mutations, a rare inherited form of the disease.<\/p>\n
The phase 3 INFRONT-3 study failed to slow disease progression, prompting Alector to remove the programme from its pipeline and cut nearly half its workforce.<\/p>\n
The second blow: Nivisnebart, which was being tested in Alzheimer\u2019s disease, was discontinued after an interim analysis showed the phase 2 INVOKE-2 trial was unlikely to meet its primary endpoint.<\/p>\n
How it works: Both drugs were designed to increase progranulin, a protein involved in lysosomal function and neuroinflammation. The biology remains scientifically attractive, but the clinical readouts have not yet translated into convincing efficacy.<\/p>\n
Yes, but: The termination does not necessarily close the door on progranulin biology. It does, however, remove GSK\u2019s support from Alector\u2019s most prominent partnered neuroscience programmes and leaves the biotech with a significantly narrower clinical-stage story.<\/p>\n
The bottom line: GSK is cutting its losses on a once high-profile dementia alliance, while Alector is left to rebuild after two failed attempts to turn progranulin modulation into a clinical win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why it matters: The move is another reminder of how difficult neurodegeneration remains for big pharma, even as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20784],"tags":[20785,232],"class_list":["post-79863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gsk","tag-gsk","tag-licensing"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116890231295871594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}