Radiopharmaceutical provider Lantheus Holdings has acquired Cerveau Technologies, the developer of the PET imaging agent MK-6240 for targeting Tau tangles in Alzheimer’s disease.

The second-generation F 18-labeled PET radiotracer detects Tau protein in the form of neurofibrillary tangles in brains to diagnose, stage and inform treatment decisions for patients with known or suspected Alzheimer’s disease.

Lantheus will pay upfront and potentially make other payments upon reaching development and commercial milestones. It will also pay double-digit royalty payments for research revenue and commercial sales, and provide transition and clinical development for services for a time after completing the transaction.
“This exciting acquisition aligns with our growth strategy, further diversifying our radiopharmaceutical diagnostic imaging agent pipeline to now include the most widely-used Tau PET imaging agent in Alzheimer’s disease and will provide us with an extensive roster of academic collaborations and pharmaceutical partnerships,” said Lantheus chief business officer Etienne Montagut in a statement.

An estimated 6.5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease, with the number expected to reach 12.7 million in people 65 and older by 2050.

While still in clinical development, MK-6240 is currently used in more than 60 academic and industry clinical trials worldwide for late-stage Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic candidates being developed by over 16 pharmaceutical companies.

Cerveau recently clinched a research collaboration to evaluate the use of MK-6240 in late-stage clinical biotechnology company Prothena’s investigational therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

“With Lantheus’ expertise in radiopharmaceutical diagnostics and ability to scale operations as volume continues to accelerate, there is no doubt that Lantheus is the ideal company to advance research collaborations and patient access toward bringing this leading-edge precision imaging tracer to patients,” said Cerveau chief executive officer Rick Hiatt.

Financial details for the acquisition were not disclosed.

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