Adele Signs License Agreement with Sanofi for Alzheimer's Disease Drug Candidate

Upfront Payment of About 120 Billion Won, Total Deal Worth Up to 1.53 Trillion Won
Largest Technology Export Contract for a New Drug by a Korean Company
Adele, a Stonebridge Ventures Portfolio Company

Adele, a company specializing in the development of treatments for degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, announced on the 16th that it has signed a license agreement with global pharmaceutical company Sanofi to transfer the exclusive worldwide rights for the development and commercialization of its Alzheimer's disease drug candidate, ADEL-Y01. Stonebridge Ventures holds the largest institutional stake in Adele.

The total value of this agreement amounts to up to 1.04 billion dollars (approximately 1.53 trillion won). Adele will receive an upfront payment of 80 million dollars (about 118 billion won) with no repayment obligation, and may receive the remaining amount based on the achievement of development and commercialization milestones. In addition, after product commercialization, Adele is entitled to receive tiered royalties linked to net sales, up to a double-digit percentage. This non-refundable upfront payment is the largest ever among technology export contracts by Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Adele CI.

ADEL-Y01 is based on a technology that precisely and selectively targets and removes only the abnormal tau protein, which is considered a key cause of Alzheimer's disease. Adele has led the entire development process, from target discovery and candidate selection to efficacy validation, preclinical studies, and clinical sample production. Since 2020, Adele has entered into a joint research and development agreement with Oscotec, and is currently conducting a global Phase 1 clinical trial under IND approval from the U.S. FDA.

Yoon Seungyong, CEO of Adele, stated, "This large-scale technology transfer agreement with the world-class pharmaceutical company Sanofi is a testament to the strength of Adele's technology and the potential of ADEL-Y01 in the global market. By collaborating with Sanofi, which possesses unrivaled capabilities in drug development and commercialization based on our scientific expertise, we hope to bring hope as quickly as possible to Alzheimer's patients worldwide who are in urgent need of fundamental treatments."

Eric Wahlstrom, Global Head and Senior Vice President at Sanofi, commented, "Adele's innovative approach of targeting acetylated tau offers a differentiated mechanism that has the potential to address the root cause of Alzheimer's disease and open new horizons in its treatment. We look forward to successfully advancing the clinical development of ADEL-Y01 and providing hope to patients living with this devastating disease."

Kim Hyunki, Managing Director and bio investment specialist at Stonebridge Ventures, who first discovered and decided to invest in Adele, commented on this technology export, "This case demonstrates that even in the CNS (central nervous system) sector, pipelines with specific targets, rather than platform-based approaches, can be successfully exported."

Stonebridge Ventures expects that Adele, Ingenia Therapeutics, NexEye, and other companies in its bio sector portfolio-which accounts for about 25% of the portfolio and has seen large-scale investments-will enter full-scale exit mode starting in 2026, leading to anticipated investment returns.