AbbVie strengthens early stage neurology focus with Mission deal

Mission Therapeutics Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.) and AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) partnered to develop deubiquitinase inhibitors for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The deal is the second in as many weeks for AbbVie for early stage neurology candidates.

Deubiquitinases, or DUBs, remove ubiquitin to protect their target from degradation, and thus DUB inhibitors could increase degradation of a target protein. They are among the modalities of interest to drug developers hoping to go after intractable targets by controlling the proteasome (see "Golden State of DUBs")...