Nxera Pharma Co. will receive a $10 million milestone payment from Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. after the U.S. FDA accepted an Investigational New Drug application for NBI-1117567, an oral muscarinic M1 receptor agonist in development for Alzheimer’s disease cognition.
The milestone, expected to be recognized as revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, follows the advancement of NBI-1117567 to Phase 2 clinical trials. Nxera’s shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under ticker 4565.
Under a 2021 collaboration and licensing agreement, Neurocrine obtained global rights to develop and commercialize Nxera’s portfolio of muscarinic M4, M1, and dual M1/M4 receptor agonists, excluding M1 agonists in Japan. The agreement covers development costs globally, excluding M1 agonists being developed in Japan, where Nxera retains rights.
Nxera is eligible to receive up to $2.6 billion in total payments, including research and development funding, development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as product royalties, contingent on meeting specified criteria. The company’s NxWave drug discovery platform underpins the portfolio of investigational compounds.
Neurocrine’s pipeline includes three molecules in the muscarinic agonist class: NBI-1117567 (Phase 2 for Alzheimer’s cognition), direclidine (NBI-1117568, Phase 3 for schizophrenia), and NBI-1117570 (Phase 2). The portfolio targets muscarinic acetylcholine receptors involved in neurotransmission, with M1 receptors identified as a potential therapeutic target for cognitive disorders.
