Akebia Therapeutics acquired Q32 Bio (ADX-097 / AKB-097 program) for Cash plus milestones and royalties: $7.0 million upfront on closing, plus a further $3.0 million upfront at the six-month anniversary; up to $94.5 million in development and regulatory milestones; up to $487.5 million in commercial (net-sales) milestones; and tiered royalties ranging from low-single-digit to mid-teen percentages of net sales., a transaction completed in November 2025, structured as cash upfront plus contingent milestone and royalty payments. The deal was a Asset purchase.
Q32 Bio (ADX-097 / AKB-097 program) operates in Rare kidney disease / complement inhibitor, is based in USA (Q32 Bio Inc., Nasdaq: QTTB). Akebia entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Q32 Bio Inc. and Q32 Bio Operations Inc. under which it purchased and assumed substantially all of the assets and liabilities related to the research, development, manufacture and commercialization of Q32's clinical-stage candidate ADX-097 worldwide. ADX-097 (renamed AKB-097) is a tissue-targeted C3d-Factor H fusion protein complement inhibitor that has been evaluated in a Phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers and is intended to treat rare kidney diseases. The purchase established Akebia's rare kidney disease pipeline alongside praliciguat.
Akebia positioned the acquisition as the second pillar of its corporate strategy — building and progressing a kidney disease pipeline alongside driving Vafseo toward standard of care in anemia due to CKD on dialysis. Management believes the differentiated, tissue-targeted complement program can address numerous rare kidney diseases with reduced systemic complement inhibition.
ADX-097 is tissue-targeted to sites of complement activation and is not expected to cause the systemic complement inhibition seen with other inhibitors, giving Akebia a differentiated, next-generation asset with potential across a wide range of complement-mediated rare kidney diseases. Extends Akebia's kidney-disease focus into rare disease, adding a second pipeline candidate alongside praliciguat and leveraging the company's renal development and commercial capabilities. AKB-097 (formerly ADX-097) folded into Akebia's newly established rare kidney disease pipeline; a Phase 2 basket trial across multiple rare kidney disease indications was planned to begin dosing in 2026.
Our commitment to patients with kidney disease is supported by two pillars of our corporate strategy: first, to drive Vafseo to become standard of care in anemia due to CKD in dialysis, and second, to build and progress our kidney disease pipeline. We are excited to take an important step forward as a company with the establishment of our rare kidney disease development pipeline.John P. Butler, Chief Executive Officer, Akebia Therapeutics
Advisory firms were not disclosed for this transaction.