Key insights
- AC Immune's CEO, Andrea Pfeifer, is retiring, leading to uncertainty during the transition. While an interim CEO with relevant experience has been appointed, the leadership change introduces short-term risk. The company's focus on Alzheimer's treatments and partnerships with major players like Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson are longer-term positives, but the immediate impact is slightly negative due to leadership transition.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland - AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) announced today that co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Andrea Pfeifer will retire from her position at the company’s upcoming Annual General Meeting.
Dr. Pfeifer, who co-founded the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in 2003 and led its Nasdaq listing in 2016, cited a desire to spend more time with her family as the reason for her departure after 23 years with the company.
The Board of Directors has appointed current Board Chair Dr. Martin Züfel as interim CEO while the search for a permanent successor continues. A leading industry consultant has been engaged to conduct the CEO search, according to the company’s statement.
Dr. Pfeifer will transition to an advisory role and will be appointed as Honorary Chair of the Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board to facilitate the leadership transition.
"It has been a great honor to serve as CEO of AC Immune together with so many dedicated and brilliant colleagues over the years," Dr. Pfeifer said in the statement.
Dr. Züfel brings 30 years of executive and board-level experience in multinational healthcare companies. He previously served as CEO of Merz Pharma GmbH, where he worked on developing memantine into an Alzheimer’s drug. He currently serves on the boards of Grünenthal, AMW GmbH, and MESI Ltd.
AC Immune focuses on developing precision therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The company has three candidates in clinical trials and maintains strategic partnerships with Eli Lilly, Takeda, and Johnson & Johnson.
The information is based on a press release statement from AC Immune.
In other recent news, AC Immune SA has dosed the first patients in Cohort AD4 of its Phase 1b/2 ABATE trial for ACI-24, an active immunotherapy targeting Alzheimer’s disease. This development has triggered a $12 million milestone payment from Takeda, as part of their exclusive worldwide option and license agreement. The ABATE trial is significant as it involves patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease and adults with Down syndrome, with a potential expansion to include up to 112 patients. Additionally, AC Immune announced an amendment to its collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly and Company, focusing on developing tau aggregation inhibitor small molecules. This amendment includes a CHF10 million upfront payment and potential milestone payments exceeding CHF1.7 billion, along with tiered royalties. Leerink Partners reiterated an Outperform rating on AC Immune following this amendment, highlighting the continued interest in targeting intracellular Tau. AC Immune plans to initiate Investigational New Drug-enabling studies for new tau Morphomer candidates in the first half of 2026. These developments underline AC Immune’s ongoing efforts in Alzheimer’s disease research and collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies.
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