Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people living with rare diseases, today announced a co-development agreement with Aliada Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing platform technology to address challenging disease areas with high unmet need.
The research collaboration will focus on multiple enzyme cargoes modified with Aliada's Modular Delivery (MODEL) platform, which harnesses endogenous brain endothelial cell transport mechanisms to efficiently move large molecule therapeutics across the BBB. Beyond enabling high therapeutic exposure in the brain, the MODEL platform demonstrates advantages over competing approaches with a broad design landscape that confers the ability to optimize therapeutics for both central nervous system (CNS) delivery and downstream functionality.
"Our commitment to the development of new treatment options for people living with lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) is global, as evidenced by recent regulatory approvals," said Giacomo Chiesi, head of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases. "Many LSDs have CNS involvement. With this collaboration, we are expanding our strategy and presence in BBB-crossing technologies and hope to leverage our know-how in LSDs to support the development of an effective and differentiated drug delivery platform. We are especially proud to advance this important research with Aliada, a partner with vast experience in neuro drug development and biologics delivery."
Founded in 2021, Aliada leverages its MODEL platform to research and develop differentiated large molecule therapeutics for patients with neurological disorders and systemic disorders with CNS involvement. Its leadership team brings deep experience and a successful track record across neuroscience and biologics discovery and development. Aliada is backed by leading life sciences investors, and plans to both advance proprietary programs and also collaborate with other companies to progress programs across multiple therapeutic areas.
"We are excited to partner with Chiesi to develop improved therapeutics for patients living with LSDs, who currently lack treatments that can readily access the brain," said Adam Rosenberg, Chief Executive Officer, Aliada Therapeutics. "We admire Chiesi's continued commitment to patients, exemplified by their two recent FDA approvals. This collaboration will allow Aliada to demonstrate the diverse capabilities of our MODEL platform, which enables us to efficiently transport a diverse range of therapeutic cargoes into the brain."
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