Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. is an American

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

company based in Pearl River, New York. The company develops therapies that improve neurological function in people with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

and other neurological disorders. Acorda Therapeutics manufactures and markets the drugs Inbrija ( levodopa inhalation powder) and Ampyra (dalfampridine) in the United States.

Products

*Ampyra ( dalfampridine) *Inbrija ( levodopa inhalation powder) Inbrija is administered by inhalation and is indicated for the intermittent treatment of off episodes in patients with Parkinson's disease currently taking carbidopa/levodopa. Inbrija is approved by the FDA and the EU.

Development pipeline

* BTT1023 (timolumab) for

primary sclerosing cholangitis Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a long-term progressive disease of the liver and gallbladder characterized by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, which normally allow bile to drain from the gallbladder. Affected individuals may ...

(phase II) *CVT-427 ( zolmitriptan) for the acute treatment of

migraine Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...

(phase I) *rHIgM22, a remyelinating antibody for the treatment of

(phase I)

ARCUS Technology

In September 2014, the company acquired Civitas Therapeutics for , gaining the Phase III Parkinson's drug, CVT-301, the migraine drug CVT-427 and rights to the ARCUS pulmonary delivery system. Th ARCUS technology allows for the administration of drugs by inhalation. The FDA-approved drug Inbrija (levodopa inhalation powder) and the clinical-stage drug CVT-427 (zolmitriptan) currently use the ARCUS technology for drug delivery.

History and business model

Acorda Therapeutics was incorporated in 1995, founded by

internist Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of th ...

turned entrepreneur Ron Cohen in Hawthorne, New York.
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Cohen had previously worked at the tissue engineering firm Advanced Tissue Sciences from 1986 to 1992. Cohen's focus on neurology at Acorda was influenced by his father's being a

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

Columbia University Medical Center Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is the academic medical center of Columbia University and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The center's academic wing consists of Columbia's colleges and schools of Physicia ...

. The

business model A business model describes how a Company, business organization creates, delivers, and captures value creation, value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-pub ...

of the company from the start was to work on commercialization of academic discoveries. A single therapeutic area focus also has the advantage that physicians prescribing one drug might also prescribe another in Acorda's portfolio; for instance, the company planned to leverage physician access through tizanidine capsule sales to promote dalfampridine sales. An

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) in 2006 raised , about half of what was expected going into the offering, which was attributed to general weakness of the IPO market at the time. These funds were supplemented by a private sale of shares later the same year, raising and additional . As of 2007, twelve years after incorporation, the company had not yet turned a profit. From 2019 to 2021 the company's earnings per share (EPS) increased by 4.5% every year. In 2021, the company's revenue was down by 13 percent. In 2024, the company declared

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection, and announced that it had secured a "stalking horse" bid for all of its assets. As a result of the bankruptcy filing, the company's stock fell approximately 40%.

Dalfampridine

The Canadian Spinal Research Organization held the patent for this drug in 2002 when the organization engaged Acorda to conduct a Phase III trial for treatment of

spasticity Spasticity () is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles. ...

in patients with chronic

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

. This was Acorda's flagship product and development of subsequent drug candidates was initially predicated on realized revenue from this drug's sales. In November 2016, the company announced it was discontinuing development of the drug for post-

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

walking difficulties, after a clinical trial failure. In the third quarter of 2019, the company's shares dropped by a significant 65.1% as a result of dalfampridine's

indication facing competition in the United States.

Inbrija

In December 2018, the company announced the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

approval of Inbrija (levodopa inhalation powder) for patients with Parkinson's disease. In January 2021, Acorda sold its manufacturing operations for Inbrija to

Catalent Catalent, Inc. (Catalent Pharma Solutions), is an American multinational company, and a subsidiary of Novo Holdings A/S since 2024. It is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. It is a provider of drug delivery technologies, drug development, ...

for $70 million to reduce the company's operating expenses.

Tizanidine

The company licensed

tizanidine Tizanidine, sold under the brand name Zanaflex among others, is an alpha-2 (α2) adrenergic receptor agonist, similar to clonidine, that is used to treat muscle spasticity due to spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and spastic cerebral ...

(Zanaflex) from Élan in the early 2000s to help meeting

cash flow Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), es ...

goals. Acorda sells both capsule and tablet forms of this drug, with emphasis on the capsule form as this has patent protection through 2021, while the tablet form has many generic competitors.

Tozadenant

In January 2016, the company acquired Finnish pharmaceutical company, Biotie Therapies, for . This gave the company control over Biote's

drug, BTT1023 and the oral

adenosine A2A receptor The adenosine A2A receptor, also known as ADORA2A, is an adenosine receptor, and also denotes the human gene encoding it. Structure This protein is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family which possess seven transmembrane al ...

antagonist tozadenant. In November 2017, the company announced discontinuation of research and development of the Phase III

drug tozadenant. This followed the death of 5 patients enrolled in the tozadenant Phase III trial from

agranulocytosis Agranulocytosis, also known as agranulosis or granulopenia, is an acute condition involving a severe and dangerous lowered white blood cell count (leukopenia, most commonly of neutrophils) and thus causing neutropenia in the circulating blood. I ...

and associated severe adverse events possibly related to tozadenant.

Corporate governance

, the members of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of Acorda Therapeutics were: Ron Cohen, Barry Greene, Peder K. Jensen, John P. Kelley, Sandra Panem, Lorin J. Randall, Steven M. Rauscher, and Catherine D. Strader. , the members of the senior management team were: Ron Cohen M.D. (Founder,

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

), Burkhard Blank ( chief medical officer), Andrew R. Blight ( chief scientific officer emeritus), Denise Duca (executive vice president, human resources), Andrew A. Hidman (chief business officer), David Lawrence (chief, business operations and principal accounting officer), Lauren Sabella (chief commercial officer), Tierney Saccavino (executive vice president, corporate communications) and Jane Wasman (president, international and

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

). , founder, president and CEO Cohen would be about 63 years old. Andrew Blight was the CSO in 2007 and be about 68 years old, an emeritus in this role. As of 2007, David Lawrence was the

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

and Mary Fisher the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

. Jane Wasman, about 62 in 2019, has held the general counsel role at the company since at least 2007. In 2024, Acorda Therapeutics went bankrupt with its stock being delisted from the NASDAQ. In its bankruptcy proceedings, a stalking horse offer from Merz Pharma subsidiary Merz Therapeutics was arranged. The deal included Merz's purchase of Inbrija and Ampyra for $185 million.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Biotechnology companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Biotechnology companies established in 1995 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 Companies based in Westchester County, New York Life sciences industry 1995 establishments in New York (state) Health care companies based in New York (state)