AbbVie announced today that it has exercised its exclusive right and completed the acquisition of Mitokinin, a discovery-stage biotechnology company developing a potentially first-in-class disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's Disease (PD). Mitokinin's lead compound, a selective PINK1 activator, is designed to address mitochondrial dysfunction that is believed to be a major contributing factor to Parkinson's disease pathogenesis and progression.
Mitokinin was founded in 2013 based on technology discovered by scientific co-founders Nicholas Hertz and Kevan Shokat at UCSF. Investors include Mission BioCapital, Pfizer Ventures, and Samambaia Investments.