RA Capital Management, LP (RA Capital), a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare, life sciences, and planetary health companies, today announced that AbbVie has closed its $1.4 billion acquisition of RA Capital’s portfolio company Aliada Therapeutics.
Aliada’s lead investigational asset is ALIA-1758, an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody, which is in development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial. ALIA-1758 utilizes a novel blood-brain barrier-crossing technology that enhances delivery of targeted drugs into the central nervous system.
Johnson & Johnson (through its venture capital arm, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc.), RA Capital, and Raven (RA Capital’s healthcare incubator) co-founded Aliada and co-led the series seed financing in 2021 to advance the MODEL™ platform created by Johnson & Johnson scientists that was licensed to Aliada at its inception.
“Congratulations to the Aliada and AbbVie teams and our fellow investors on the close of this transaction,” said Joshua Resnick, MD, Senior Managing Director at RA Capital Management and former board director at Aliada. “The acquisition of Aliada is the second significant acquisition of a Raven-grown company this year, joining Novartis’ $1 billion upfront acquisition of radiopharmaceutical developer Mariana Oncology in May.”
“Delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier with a low-volume, subcutaneous injection would be revolutionary for treating Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders, and has long been a dream in the field,” said Laura Tadvalkar, PhD, Managing Director at RA Capital Management and former board chair at Aliada. “We look forward to following ALIA-1758’s progress through the clinic, as AbbVie advances this important medicine for Alzheimer’s disease patients.”
About Raven
Raven is RA Capital Management’s healthcare incubator. Raven’s experienced team of scientists, operators, and innovators bring deep sector expertise, insight and executional capabilities across therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and services. Raven builds companies: from originating and incubating new ideas to accelerating compelling innovations and rejuvenating promising assets.
About RA Capital
Founded in 2004, RA Capital Management is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare, life sciences, and planetary health companies. RA Capital creates and funds innovative companies, from private seed rounds to public follow-on financings, allowing management teams to drive value creation from inception through commercialization and beyond. RA Capital’s knowledge engine is guided by our TechAtlas internal research division, and Raven, RA Capital’s company creation team, offers entrepreneurs and innovators a collaborative and comprehensive platform to explore the novel and the re-imagined. RA Capital has more than 175 employees and over $10 billion in assets under management.
