BioWorld International Correspondent

The Genetics Company AG closed its second acquisition in six months, picking up the assets of German firm Abeta GmbH in a cash-and-shares deal that CEO Harald Eistetter said would be cash neutral in the short term and cash positive in the medium term.

Heidelberg-based Abeta is focused on developing diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease. Its lead investor, Heidelberg Innovation, had been examining possible exit routes for some time. The Genetics Company, of Schlieren, Switzerland, arrived at a late stage in the process, after Abeta "realized the business, as a stand-alone option, would not be successful," Eistetter told BioWorld International.

Abeta's key asset, Eistetter said, is a set of monoclonal antibodies and hybridomas that can distinguish between two subtypes of Alzheimer's disease-associated beta amyloid peptide, containing 40 and 42 amino acids, respectively. Monitoring the ratio between the two provides an indication of how the disease will progress, he said, and of the effectiveness of drug therapy.

An undisclosed American pharmaceutical firm has licensed the technology for use in internal research and clinical trials, and several other prospects also have expressed an interest, Eistetter said. In addition, Abeta devised a therapeutic approach to treating Alzheimer's disease, which The Genetics Company will further explore.

"We now have proprietary evidence that the amyloid precursor protein may need to be present as a dimer to allow beta secretase to clip the amyloid from the precursor," Eistetter said. The company plans to target the process as a possible means of preventing beta amyloid plaque formation.

It also is entering a collaboration with the scientific founders of Abeta, Konrad Beyreuther and Tobias Hartmann, both of the University of Heidelberg, and Gerd Multhaup, of Berlin University.

The Genetics Company's previous acquisition also involved a German Alzheimer's disease firm, Berlin-based CallistoGen AG.

"As soon as we had done the CallistoGen deal last December, we were looking for opportunities to strengthen the Alzheimer's portfolio," Eistetter said.

The shopping spree does not end here - The Genetics Company is in talks with three more prospects in the Alzheimer's disease and cancer areas, all of them based in Germany.

"I am pretty confident we will be able to close at least one more deal in the not-too-distant future," Eistetter said. "We're out for additional financing, as well."