NEW YORK – Enigma Biomedical Group-USA on Thursday said it has signed a licensing deal with AbbVie to certain PET imaging biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases.
As part of the deal, EBG-USA, a company that develops imaging biomarkers for neurological pathologies and related technologies, will have an opportunity to develop and commercialize AbbVie's F18 PET imaging biomarkers. These biomarkers are designed to detect the presence of four-repeat (4R) tau proteins in patients with suspected neurodegenerative diseases linked to misfolded 4R tau proteins, such as progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration.
EBG-USA and AbbVie will initially collaborate to validate preclinical and clinical PET ligands. After that, EBG-USA will have the option to negotiate an exclusive license agreement with AbbVie for the PET imaging biomarkers.
Eric Karran, VP of neuroscience discovery research at AbbVie, emphasized the role protein biomarkers including tau and beta-amyloid have played in the development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease and suggested that these 4R tau PET imaging biomarkers, once validated, will inform development of therapeutic agents in other neurodegenerative diseases.
"It is our hope that these novel 4R tau PET ligands will facilitate and accelerate the development of innovative therapies for patients living with other neurodegenerative diseases such as progressive supranuclear palsy," he said in a statement.