NEUROSCIENCE
AbbVie invests in Alector’s immunoneurology therapies The $225 million deal will support drugs that boost immune cell activity to fight Alzheimer’s AbbVie is betting big on the idea that the immune system can be recruited to fight neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The big pharma company is investing $225 million in Alector, a fouryear-old South San Francisco-based biotech firm trying to jump-start a new therapeutic field called immunoneurology. The majority of Alzheimer’s treatments in development take direct aim at the amyloid-β or tau proteins that are known to accumulate in the brains of people with the disease. But most of those drug candidates have failed in mid- or late-stage clinical trials. Rather than reduce aggregations of amyloid-β and Neuron tau directly, Alector’s approach is to recruit the brain’s immune cells to do the job, hopefully improving the connectivity and survival of brain cells. Alector CEO Arnon Rosenthal says immunoneurology is directly comparable to the burgeoning field of immuno-oncology, whose treatments restore or boost the immune system’s natural ability to seek and destroy tumors. “We have a lot of
but not in neurons. Alector is designing antibodies that latch onto and activate or inhibit proteins on the surfaces of microglia and macrophages—immune cells found hope that this new field could provide a in the brain—to treat neurodegenerative broad answer to dementia and other neudiseases and dementias. rodegeneration,” Rosenthal says. AbbVie’s investment will allow Alector Evidence for the immune system’s into put two Alzheimer’s drugs into the clinvolvement in neurodegenerative disorders ic and support their development through has mounted in recent years. Importantly, researchers discovered that certain genetic Phase II studies, Rosenthal says. After that, AbbVie would conduct a larger Phase variants associated with an increased risk III study and potentially commercialize of Alzheimer’s are found in immune cells the drugs, with an option for 50-50 profit sharing between the two firms. Alector’s antibodies target microglia, Rosenthal adds that Alector plans to while many in-development move five compounds, all for different inAlzheimer’s therapies target dications, into the clinic within two years amyloid-� or tau tangles. and is currently pursuing drug development against a total of about 10 different immunoneurology targets. Although Rosenthal would not disclose Alector’s targets, patents filed in 2015 indicate the development of antibodies against a microglial protein Microglia called TREM2. That target is generating excitement among Tau tangles Alzheimer’s researchers because of the discovery that genetic mutations in the gene for Antibodies against TREM2 can increase the risk of = Amyloid-� tau or amyloid-� developing Alzheimer’s two- to aggregates Alector’s antibodies = against microglia fourfold.—RYAN CROSS
POLYMERS
C R E D I T: A LECTO R
M&G files for bankruptcy in Delaware In Mossi Ghisolfi’s deepening financial crisis, M & G Polymers USA, the U.S. affiliate of the Italian polyethylene terephthalate (PET) maker, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. According to its filing, the company has up to $500 million in liabilities. Last month, Mexican chemical firm Alpek, a PET rival and also an important supplier of the polyester raw material purified terephthalic acid (PTA) to M&G, cut off supplies of PTA to M&G because of $50 million in unpaid invoices. According to the bankruptcy filing, M&G also owes rival and supplier Indorama $57 million. M&G has also been struggling to pay
contractors building a new PTA/PET complex in Corpus Christi, Texas. That plant is designed to produce up to 1.2 million metric tons of PTA and 1 million metric tons of PET per year. Contractors have filed for about $100 million in liens against the plant. One contractor, Fluor Enterprises, laid off 274 workers who were building the facility. Earlier this month, M&G affiliates filed with a tribunal in its home country of Italy for an arrangement with creditors. In reference to that filing, M&G said its affiliates are “studying a proposal for an arrangement that will allow their overall activities to continue as a going concern.”
Such an arrangement may involve Alpek. The company wrote down $113 million in accounts receivable from M&G and has taken a charge of $435 million for asset impairments. Alpek says M&G has shut down its plant in Mexico, which receives supply from an Alpek plant nearby. In addition, Alpek has acquired rights to a $100 million loan secured by M&G’s Mexican plant. “Alpek will continue engaging M&G and its creditors to resume M&G Mexico’s operations and implement a restructuring plan for M&G Mexico,” says Alpek CEO José de Jesús Valdez Simancas.—ALEX TULLO OCTOBER 30, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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