AbbVie acquired Mitokinin, a biotechnology company developing a potentially first-in-class disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), for $110 million at closing and up to $545 million upon the achievement of certain development and commercial milestones, plus royalties on sales. Mitokinin’s lead compound, a selective PINK1 activator, is designed to address mitochondrial dysfunction that is believed to be a major contributing factor to Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis and progression.

PINK1 plays a key role in maintaining a healthy mitochondrial system by facilitating the turnover of dysfunctional mitochondria. Mutations in PINK1 are associated with a loss of PINK1 function and cause familial forms of PD. Activation of PINK1 offers a potentially disease-modifying treatment approach beyond familial PD, by addressing mitochondrial dysfunction and improving mitochondrial health in sporadic PD.

“Parkinson’s disease continues to be a major unmet medical need, impacting patients, caregivers and society. With this acquisition, we are excited to grow our neuroscience portfolio and explore a potential new treatment option for PD,” said Jonathon Sedgwick, vice president and global head of discovery research, AbbVie. “While current PD treatments may alleviate the symptoms of parkinsonism, there are currently no available therapies that prevent progression of the disease. Targeting PINK1 offers a novel approach that may alter disease pathogenesis.”

Daniel de Roulet, Co-founder, and CEO, Mitokinin said, “Collaboration with AbbVie’s world-class Neuroscience and External Innovation teams added significant value and resources to help accelerate the program to investigational new drug (IND) enabling studies.”