Acelyrin Acquires ValenzaBio, Maker of Treatment Candidate for Thyroid Eye Disease

Acelyrin announced the acquisition of ValenzaBio, a privately held company developing therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, in an all-stock transaction.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The acquisition of ValenzaBio adds multiple clinical and preclinical development programs to Acelyrin's immunology pipeline, which is led by izokibep, a small therapeutic protein inhibitor of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) designed to overcome the limitations of monoclonal antibodies.

"Acelyrin was founded a little over 2 years ago to identify, acquire, and accelerate the development and delivery of therapies with the potential to provide clinically meaningful, differentiated benefits to patients based on the science of the targets or characteristics of the molecules," Shao-Lee Lin, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of Acelyrin, said in a company news release. "The previously shared phase 2 psoriatic arthritis data support our hypothesis that the characteristics of izokibep can lead to differentiated patient outcomes relative to current treatment options, and the results reported separately today for hidradenitis suppurativa now offer data in a second indication that further support that hypothesis. The acquisition of ValenzaBio adds additional programs to our portfolio, such as lonigutamab, which we believe similarly have the potential to offer clinically meaningful, differentiated benefits relative to current treatment options."

The acquisition of ValenzaBio adds several additional assets to the Acelyrin portfolio including:

• Lonigutamab (VB-421), a subcutaneously delivered anti-IGF-1R currently being evaluated in a phase 1 study for Thyroid Eye Disease–a greater than $4 billion estimated market opportunitywith potential implications for efficacy, safety, and administration benefits for patients.
• VB-517, a pre-IND anti-c-KIT being studied as a treatment option in Chronic Urticaria, a potentially greater than $2.5 billion estimated market opportunity.