Amid management shakeup, Akcea strikes latest antisense deal

Akcea will bank $250 million up front from a new licensing deal with Pfizer, adding to a balance sheet already fattened by a February deal with Novartis for another antisense oligonucleotide program based on Akcea's technology platform.

The deal gives Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) exclusive, worldwide rights to AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx, which is in Phase II testing to treat Type II diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Pfizer will be responsible for development costs beyond a current Phase II trial of the therapy, which uses Ligand Conjugated Antisense (LICA) technology from Akcea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AKCA) to inhibit production of ANGPTL3...