Alkermes To Acquire Rodin Therapeutics For Up To USD 950M, Expanding CNS Pipeline

Alkermes has agreed to acquire Rodin Therapeutics for up to $950 million, the companies said today, in a deal that will expand the buyer’s CNS pipeline with first-in-class, orally-available, brain-permeable therapeutics for brain diseases driven by synaptic loss and dysfunction, or synaptopathies.

Headquartered in Boston, privately-held Rodin has developed molecules designed to target specific histone deacetylase (HDAC) complexes. HDACs are a class of proteins involved in chromatin remodeling and gene expression, and have been shown to regulate synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity. However, currently available HDAC inhibitors with known prosynaptic effects cannot be used in the treatment of chronic neurologic conditions, because they are associated with dose-limiting hematological toxicities.

Rodin reasons that selective inhibition of the HDAC−co-repressor of repressor element-1 silencing transcription factor (CoREST) complex can reactivate neuronal gene expression, strengthen existing synapses, and promote the creation of new synapses, while minimizing known class-based hematologic safety concerns. Rodin says that its platform may be potentially applicable to a variety of neuropsychiatric, neurodegenerative, and neurodevelopment disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and depression—as well as oncology and blood disorders.

“Building on our broad experience in psychiatry, we believe this transaction will allow us to explore a wide array of neurodegenerative diseases and synaptopathies, which have been areas of significant interest to us as we have advanced our internal pipeline of medicines for CNS disorders,” Alkermes CEO Richard Pops said in a statement.-Geneng News