Jazz builds in epilepsy with $1.3bn Actio acquisition
Jazz Pharma has dipped its toe into the M&A water again, agreeing to buy epilepsy drug developer Actio Biosciences in a deal that includes an upfront payment of $820 million.
Privately-held Actio is developing a small-molecule KCNT1 ion channel inhibitor, codenamed ABS-1230, which is in a phase 1b/2a trial, and Jazz is also offering $500 million in bonus payments to investors in the company if the drug is eventually approved and meets sales targets.
ABS-1230 is being tested in the KYRON trial in patients with KCNT1-positive epilepsy, a rare and devastating developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) that is thought to affect approximately 2,500 people in the US.
KCNT-related epilepsy most commonly develops in infancy, and patients tend to have a very high seizure burden – with dozens or even hundreds of attacks per day – that severely impacts their ability to develop normally and can lead to death before they reach adulthood.
In around one in five patients, however, it occurs in later life, disrupting sleep and leading to major cognitive and psychiatric complications. There are no approved treatments for this type of epilepsy, which is linked to an overactive KCNT1 potassium ion channel.
Jazz has a proven track record in the epilepsy category through its development of cannabidiol-based medication Epidiolex/Epidyolex, which made more than $1 billion in sales last year, and is also developing new medicines like JZP047 for absence epilepsies.
Chief executive Renee Gala said acquiring Actio and ABS-1230 "represents a highly strategic expansion" and will "deepen […] our leadership in rare and severe epilepsies."
ABS-1230 has already completed a phase 1a safety study, which showed it was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported, and the KYRON trial got underway in May, with an initial data readout expected next year or in early 2028.
Earlier this year, the drug was accepted into the FDA's Rare Disease Evidence Principles (RDEP) process, a framework designed to facilitate development of certain therapies for ultra-rare, genetically defined diseases by aligning early with FDA on approaches to demonstrate substantial evidence of effectiveness.
As part of the proposed takeover, Actio plans to spin out a new, privately-held company – before the transaction closes – to take forward some other programmes focused on rare neurological diseases, including a therapy for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Jazz will have a minority stake in the new company.
The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
Actio is the third acquisition for Jazz in the last few years, coming after it bought Chimerix for $935 million last year and Epidiolex developer GW Pharma for $7.2 billion in 2021.
