Alector Licenses AL050 to Genentech for $100 Million
The $100 million upfront payment, plus up to $1.17 billion in milestones, extends the biotech’s cash runway into 2029.
Alector, Inc. (ALEC), a biotechnology company developing therapies for neurodegeneration, entered an exclusive global license with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, granting the partner worldwide rights to develop and commercialize AL050, an investigational brain-penetrant glucocerebrosidase (GCase) enzyme replacement therapy.
The company will receive a $100 million upfront payment, is eligible for up to $1.17 billion in additional development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, and will earn tiered royalties on net sales. Genentech will handle development, regulatory work, manufacturing, and commercialization across all indications.
AL050 pairs an Alector-engineered GCase, optimized for greater enzymatic activity and a longer half-life, with Alector Brain Carrier (ABC), the company’s proprietary blood-brain barrier delivery platform. The enzyme is intended to break down glucosylsphingosine and glucosylceramide, lipids that accumulate in neurons when GCase is deficient. Chief Executive Officer Arnon Rosenthal said deficient GCase activity is increasingly recognized as a contributor to Parkinson’s disease and that there is still no approved therapy that addresses the underlying enzyme deficiency.
The deal extends Alector’s cash runway into 2029, after it had described a runway of at least through 2027 two months earlier. Cash, cash equivalents, and investments were $172.8 million as of June 30, 2026.
Rosenthal said the partnership provides resources to advance AL137, Alector’s fully active, subcutaneously delivered, brain-enabled anti-Aβ antibody, to multi-cohort clinical data in Alzheimer’s patients, and to move the subcutaneously delivered, brain-enabled Tau siRNA and alpha-synuclein siRNA programs through IND-enabling studies and to IND filings. Alector retains ownership of ABC and full rights to apply the platform across its wholly owned pipeline.
In August, after completing IND-enabling studies of both subcutaneous and intravenous administration, the company selected AL137 as the lead molecule for its anti-amyloid beta antibody program for Alzheimer’s disease, with AL037 retained as a backup. It is targeting an IND submission in the first quarter of 2027 and first-in-human dosing in Australia no later than April 2027. AL137 combines a high-affinity fully human anti-Aβ antibody that selectively binds pyroglutamate-3 Aβ with ABC.
ABC is designed to achieve enhanced brain delivery through differentiated binding to a distinct region of the transferrin receptor and to enable peripheral dosing. The platform is adaptable across antibodies, enzymes, and siRNA. Preclinical studies across multiple ABC-enabled programs have shown robust brain penetration.
Alector will host a scientific webinar on October 13, 2026, focused on AL137, AL164, its tau siRNA program, and AL062, its alpha-synuclein siRNA program.