Shionogi amendment provides Akili with near-term cash payments and cancellation of debt obligation
Company announces exploration of strategic alternatives and associated workforce reduction
Company to release first quarter 2024 financial results on May 14, 2024
Akili, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKLI), a leading digital medicine company, today provided several corporate updates, including an amendment to its strategic distribution agreement with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. ("Shionogi"), a leading global pharmaceutical company. Under the terms of the amended agreement, Shionogi has canceled and forgiven a $5.0 million long-term debt obligation and agreed to make certain payments for SDT-001 (the Japanese, localized version of Akili's AKL-T01 digital treatment, marketed as EndeavorRx® in the United States). Per the amendment, Akili will receive an upfront payment of $10.5 million in consideration for the elimination of future royalty payments and certain future milestone payments. Akili will also be eligible to receive up to a total of $4.5 million from Shionogi in consideration of Akili development and support services, with at least $1.5 million of such services fees payable up front, and up to a total of $3.0 million from Shionogi in potential regulatory milestone payments. SDT-001 is currently under marketing approval review in Japan as a potential digital treatment for children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ("ADHD").
In parallel, Akili's board of directors has initiated a process that is currently ongoing to evaluate potential strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. As part of the process, the board of directors will evaluate, together with its external advisors, a range of potential strategic alternatives. There can be no assurance that this process will result in Akili pursuing a transaction or that any transaction, if pursued, will be completed on attractive terms, if at all. The Company does not intend, assume any obligation, or promise to publicly update or revise any information regarding this strategic review process or communicate a timetable for completion of the evaluation process.
As a part of this evaluation of strategic alternatives, Akili announced today that its board of directors approved a revised operating plan and budget for the remainder of 2024 and related restructuring of the organization to lower operating expenses while focusing on supporting Shionogi's regulatory and commercialization activities. The Company's workforce will be reduced by approximately 46% including an elimination of the Company's marketing and medical affairs teams. In conjunction with this restructuring, the Company has substantially reduced promotional activity for its EndeavorRx and EndeavorOTC products, but plans to continue to support current users of its products and make its products available for purchase. Additionally, the Company plans to continue to pursue marketing authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") of the Company's EndeavorOTC product, which remains under review, in parallel with exploration of broader strategic options.
Finally, Akili plans to report first quarter 2024 financial results and a business update via press release on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 after the market closes. The Company will not be hosting an earnings conference call for that release.