ADEL, Inc., a South Korea-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Sanofi, a multinational healthcare company, for the development and commercialisation of ADEL-Y01, a potential first-in-class antibody therapy for Alzheimer's disease, and related backup compounds.
The total potential value of the agreement is up to $1.04 billion. ADEL will receive a non-refundable upfront payment of $80 million and is eligible to receive additional payments contingent upon the achievement of specified development and commercial milestones. Additionally, ADEL is entitled to receive tiered royalties on net sales ranging up to double-digit percentages.
ADEL-Y01 is a humanised monoclonal antibody that selectively targets tau protein acetylated at Lysine-280 (acK280). Unlike therapies targeting total tau, ADEL-Y01 specifically inhibits the aggregation and propagation of toxic tau species—a key driver of Alzheimer's pathology—while preserving the function of normal microtubule-associated tau.
ADEL spearheaded the entire discovery and preclinical development of ADEL-Y01 using its proprietary neural disease research and development platform. Since 2020, ADEL has been co-developing the asset through a joint research and development agreement with Oscotec Inc. Currently, ADEL-Y01 is undergoing a global Phase 1 clinical trial (First-in-human study) under an Investigational New Drug (IND) application approved by the US FDA.
