Pharmaceutical firm Grifols agreed yesterday to acquire one of its portfolio companies, US-based neurodegenerative disease drug developer Alkahest, for $146m in cash.
Spun out of Stanford University in 2014, Alkahest is working on therapies based on the company’s map of the human plasma proteome – the set of proteins located in a person’s blood plasma – to slow detrimental biological processes of ageing.
The company has four product candidates currently in a total of six phase 2 trials, covering neurodegenerative, cognitive decline, neuromuscular and ophthalmic conditions.
Alkahest continue its work of identifying proteins in plasma post-acquisition, having already identified more than 8,000 to date. It will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grifols as part of its innovation office, and Grifols expects its work to lead to a range of new therapies.
Grifols supplied $37.5m in equity funding for Alkahest through a 2015 collaboration agreement that involved a further $12.5m in development financing, taking a 45% stake in the company in the process.
Víctor Grífols, Grifols’ co-chief execiutive, said: “We saw the promise of Alkahest’s understanding of ageing when we made our first investment and entered into a collaboration agreement with them five years ago.
“Now we see a wealth of plasma-derived and non-plasma therapeutic candidates identified by Alkahest that can significantly support the unmet needs of many diseases associated with ageing.”
