Acadia, a pharmaceuticals company based in San Diego focused on the advancement of FDA-approved therapies for neuropsychiatric conditions such as Prader-Willi Syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, has entered into an exclusive global license agreement with Saniona, a clinical stage biopharma company based in Denmark.

Under the agreement, the companies will develop and commercialise SAN711, a highly selective GABAA-α3 positive allosteric modulator, with the aim to create a therapy for essential tremor (bodily shaking or trembling). In 2026, Acadia plans to begin a second phase study of SAN711.

The License agreement dictates that Saniona will receive an initial payment of $28 million, followed by conditional milestone payments up to the sum of $582 million, dependent upon Saniona achieving annual threshold sales of SAN711 globally. Saniona will also receive tiered royalties on the net sales of any commercial products resulting from this drug development.

Acadia’s role in the project will be to deal with regulatory submissions, global commercialisation and the advancement of SAN711 clinical development, as well as providing financial support for both phase 1 and phase 2 considerations.