Chiesi has entered an exclusive licence agreement with Aliada Therapeutics, a subsidiary of AbbVie, to develop enzyme replacement therapies using blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology for lysosomal storage disorders.

The partnership is aimed at addressing challenging disease areas with unmet clinical needs.

Chiesi will gain worldwide exclusive rights from Aliada to develop and commercialise select enzyme therapies utilising Aliada’s Model platform, which leverages endogenous brain endothelial transport mechanisms for large molecule therapies delivery across the BBB.

Aliada will be eligible for upfront, milestone and sales-based payments, while Chiesi will fund all development and commercialisation activities globally.

Chiesi global rare diseases executive vice-president Giacomo Chiesi stated: “This agreement underscores our continued commitment to creating potential solutions that target the significant unmet needs in managing cognitive and neurological symptoms across several rare diseases.

“These aspects of the disease are frequently underserved, yet they can profoundly affect patients and their families. By advancing this research, we intend to go beyond symptom management and potentially address the fundamental neurological burden directly.”

Chiesi global rare diseases research and development senior vice-president Mitch Goldman stated: “We're proud to deepen our collaboration, propelling our partnership with Aliada to its next stage. We're advancing therapies and opening the door to identifying therapeutic pathways for lysosomal storage disorders, supported by encouraging preclinical data.

“What truly drives us is the urgent call from patients and families to move beyond symptom management and directly address the unmet neurological burden. That inspiring call to action shapes our work every day.”

The agreement builds on a research collaboration launched in August 2023 focused on multiple enzyme cargoes modified with the Model platform.

In October 2025, Chiesi and Arbor Biotechnologies formed an exclusive partnership and licensing deal for the latter’s investigational gene editing medicine ABO-101 for primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1), a rare, lifelong genetic disease.