[Edaily Reporter NA EUN-KYUNG ] Competition in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) delivery platform sector is intensifying as Eli Lilly has secured the BBB shuttle platform of Swedish biotech firm BioArctic, following its acquisition of ABL Bio ( ABL Bio Inc.(298380)). Industry analysts suggest that internal competition at Lilly has become inevitable, given the company’s successive acquisitions of different BBB platforms.

Competition Intensifies as the BBB Platform Market Grows

According to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry on the 2nd, Eli Lilly signed a joint development agreement with BioArctic last month for its blood-brain barrier (BBB) platform, worth up to $800 million (approximately 1.2 trillion won). The agreement centers on applying BioArctic’s transferrin receptor (TfR)-based BBB shuttle platform, “BrainTransporter,” to Lilly’s undisclosed candidate compounds for neurodegenerative diseases.

BioArctic is the company that co-developed the Alzheimer’s treatment “Leqembi” with Eisai. It is also regarded as a leading company in the BBB platform sector. This marks the fourth agreement related to BrainTransporter. Previously, the company had signed technology collaboration agreements with Eisai, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and Novartis.

The BBB platform is a delivery technology that helps drugs cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB protects the brain from harmful external substances by preventing them from entering, but at the same time, it also blocks the delivery of macromolecular therapeutics, such as antibodies, into the brain. Consequently, delivery platforms that efficiently cross the BBB are emerging as core technologies in the development of treatments for central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. This is why global big pharma companies have recently been actively pursuing BBB platforms.

Currently, BBB platforms are broadly categorized based on TfR, IGF1R, CD98, and novel targets. TfR is the leading platform, with the largest number of companies—including Roche, Dinali, and BioArctic—developing it. Recently, platforms utilizing CD98 have also garnered attention as next-generation technologies, and companies like Kinoto have emerged that are discovering new BBB targets. Lilly is also expanding its portfolio by securing various BBB platforms, starting with Kinoto (BBB delivery platform name “Kinotrans”) in 2024, followed by Sangamo Therapeutics (STAC-BBB), ABL Bio (GrabBody-B), and BioArctic (BrainTransporter).

Lilly’s Multi-Platform Strategy… What Is the Impact on ABL?

A pharmaceutical and biotech analyst stated, “While the BioArctic agreement is a project applied to a single specific candidate compound, the agreement with ABL Bio involves applying the platform itself to multiple programs,” adding, “It is difficult to conclude that the value of ABL Bio’s agreement has been diminished by this single deal alone.” However, given that Lilly has secured multiple BBB platforms, the industry expects competition between these platforms to intensify further depending on future clinical data and development outcomes.

An executive at a new drug development company remarked, “TfR and IGF1R are not platforms with distinct uses depending on the indication; rather, they are technologies that ultimately compete in the same market,” adding, “Both involve delivering antibodies across the BBB; delivery efficiency and safety will vary only depending on which receptor each developer utilizes and the platform design.” He continued, “Given that Lilly has already secured the ABL Bio platform and has now introduced the BioArctic platform as well, it is highly likely that internal comparisons and evaluations will take place. While Lilly is currently conducting a variety of tests, as clinical data accumulates in the future, development efforts are likely to focus on technologies that have proven their competitiveness.”

In particular, the IGF1R platform still faces the challenge of requiring further clinical validation. Currently, the only IGF1R-based BBB shuttle to have entered the clinical stage is Sanofi’s Parkinson’s disease treatment ABL301, which utilizes ABL Bio’s GrabBody-B. Sanofi completed the Phase 1 clinical trial for ABL301 last year, but recently, while adjusting its pipeline priorities, it reclassified ABL301 into a lower-priority group compared to its core development assets. Consequently, the competitiveness of the IGF1R-based platform remains a challenge that must be demonstrated through subsequent clinical data.

In response, ABL Bio explains that the IGF1R platform could actually serve as a differentiating factor. According to the company, unlike TfR-based platforms, GrabBody-B has a higher expression ratio in the brain relative to the rest of the body, and once it crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the drug is likely to be delivered deep into brain tissue. Furthermore, nonclinical studies have not identified hematological side effects—such as anemia—observed with TfR-based shuttles, and given the expression characteristics of IGF1R, the company expects the likelihood of drug backflow out of the brain to be relatively low. However, these advantages are based on results primarily from nonclinical studies and require future clinical validation.

ABL Bio maintains that this agreement with BioArctic will not affect its existing collaborations.

An ABL Bio official stated, “While we cannot disclose the specific development stage of the joint research currently underway with Lilly, it is proceeding as planned. There will be no changes to our R&D direction or the scope of our joint development following the BioArctic agreement.” The spokesperson added, “The fact that global pharmaceutical companies are securing various BBB platforms recently indicates that the market is expanding,” and noted, “We understand that Lilly is also pursuing a multi-platform strategy by simultaneously securing several platforms, including Kinoto, ABL Bio, and BioArctic.”