Abbvie pays up to €895m for Irish funded dementia drug group

US pharma giant Abbvie will pay up to $1 billion (€895 million) for an Irish-funded company that is chasing a treatment for dementia and other cognitive impairment issues.

Abbvie announced on Tuesday that it has bought Syndesi Therapeutics, a Belgian company backed by Irish venture capital group Fountain Healthcare Partners.

Under the deal, Abbvie will pay Syndesi shareholders $130 million (€116 million) upfront. But there is potential for further payments up to another $870 million (€779 million) if the company meets certain milestones.

Syndesi, which was spun out of Belgian epilepsy specialist group, UCB, back in 2018 is currently evaluating its lead drug candidate – SDI-118 – in the treatment of cognitive impairment and other symptoms associated with disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and major depressive disorder.

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Irish-based Fountain was part of an initial €17 million fundraising with other investors including a Novo Nordisk unit and Johnson & Johnson when the company was spun out.

Records show the business has currently received total funding of €26.2 million. That means even the initial sale price will deliver a strong return for Fountain and Syndesi’s other shareholders.

The acquisition will help to expand Abbvie’s neuroscience portfolio, giving access to Syndesi’s portfolio of modulators of the synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A).

"There is a major unmet need for new therapies that can help improve cognitive function in patients suffering from difficult-to-treat neurologic diseases," said Tom Hudson, senior vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at Abbvie. "With Abbvie's acquisition of Syndesi, we aim to advance the research of a novel, first-in-class asset for the potential treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders."