AC Immune will receive €27.6M (CHF 30M) from big pharma Eli Lilly as it begins a phase I trial of its first-in-class Alzheimer’s disease drug.
This is the first milestone payment in a deal worth up to €1.6B (CHF 1.7B), which Eli Lilly and AC Immune signed to develop drugs for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases in December last year.
AC Immune triggered the first milestone payment when it launched a phase I trial of the project’s lead Alzheimer’s drug in healthy volunteers in June. Under the agreement, AC Immune will finance the phase I stage of the Alzheimer’s drug, while Lilly will fund further clinical development.