--- title: "Alto Neuroscience buys depression drug candidates from Chase Therapeutics" url: "https://aibio.space/news/alto-neuroscience-buys-depression-drug-candidates-chase-therapeutics/" publisher: "aibio.space (Biotech Investor Relations News)" date: "2025-06-03" section: "Mergers" tickers: "NYSE:ANRO" source: "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/alto-20250531.htm" summary: "Alto may owe up to $71,500,000 in milestone payments, payable in cash or restricted stock, and says its cash is still expected to fund operations into 2028" --- By the aibio.space news desk. Sources - [Alto Neuroscience, Inc. Form 8-K filed June 3, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/alto-20250531.htm) - [Alto Neuroscience, Inc. exhibit exhibit991-pressrelease.htm to the June 3, 2025 Form 8-K (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/exhibit991-pressrelease.htm) - [Alto Neuroscience, Inc. Form 10-K filed March 20, 2025: business overview and signatures (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000025/alto-20241231.htm) [ANRO](https://aibio.space/companies/alto-neuroscience/) 2025-06-03 # Alto Neuroscience buys depression drug candidates from Chase Therapeutics, pays $1,750,000 upfront Tickers [ANRO](https://aibio.space/companies/alto-neuroscience/) Alto may owe up to $71,500,000 in milestone payments, payable in cash or restricted stock, and says its cash is still expected to fund operations into 2028. ## Key facts - **Company**: Alto Neuroscience, Inc. (NYSE: ANRO) - **News type**: Mergers - **Primary source**: [Alto Neuroscience, Inc. Form 8-K filed June 3, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/alto-20250531.htm) *A downtown skyline with a highway in the foreground. Photo: Carol M Highsmith, CC0, via rawpixel. The picture shows the field, not the companies named.* Alto Neuroscience, Inc. (NYSE: [ANRO](https://aibio.space/companies/alto-neuroscience/)) agreed to buy two drug candidates from Chase Therapeutics Corporation on May 31, 2025 and paid $1,750,000 in cash at closing. The company reported the asset purchase agreement in a [Form 8-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/alto-20250531.htm) filed June 3, 2025. Alto also reimbursed Chase Therapeutics $1,200,000 for certain expenses and may owe up to an aggregate of $71,500,000 in later milestone payments, some of which it could pay in restricted common stock. ## What the filing says The agreement transfers Chase Therapeutics' rights, title and interest in assets tied to two combinations: CTC-501, a combination of pramipexole and ondansetron, and CTC-413, a combination of pramipexole and aprepitant. The assets include intellectual property rights, know-how and contracts. Alto also assumed the seller's liabilities that arise after the closing date. Alto says its board approved the agreement. ## The terms On the closing date, Alto paid the $1,750,000 initial payment in cash and reimbursed the seller $1,200,000 for expenses tied to the agreement. It is obligated to pay up to an aggregate of $71,500,000 after closing if clinical, regulatory and sales milestones are met. Of that potential amount, $41,000,000 is tied to commercial success of the product candidates. Except for the first milestone event, Chase Therapeutics may elect to take each milestone payment in cash or in restricted shares of Alto common stock, par value $0.0001. The agreement caps the shares that may be issued at 5,387,353, which Alto says represents 19.9% of its outstanding common stock as of the closing date. If Alto misses certain milestones by an agreed date, it must either pre-pay part of the related payment, which it may pay in restricted shares, or transfer the related compound back to Chase Therapeutics. Alto decides which at its sole discretion. The shares would be issued under the exemption in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 506 of Regulation D. Alto and Chase Therapeutics also agreed to negotiate a registration rights agreement that would give the seller three S-3 demand registration rights and piggyback rights. ## Cash runway and the drug candidates In the [press release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000048/exhibit991-pressrelease.htm), Alto says its cash guidance is unchanged. It expects its current cash balance to support planned operations into 2028, through at least five planned clinical study readouts. Chief executive Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D. said: "The strategic transaction with Chase Therapeutics allows us to add a major late-stage clinical readout to our pipeline without changing our current cash runway guidance into 2028." The lead asset is ALTO-207, formerly CTC-501, which Alto is developing for treatment resistant depression. Alto says it expects to start a Phase 2b trial in patients with treatment resistant depression by mid-2026 and to report topline data in 2027. The press release says Chase Therapeutics completed a Phase 2a trial of CTC-501 in 32 patients with depression and that the study met its primary endpoint. The trial's stated primary endpoint was overall tolerability and reaching higher doses of pramipexole combined with ondansetron. Clinical efficacy was a secondary, exploratory endpoint, so the reported depression result rests on a small trial that was not designed to test efficacy as its main question. The release cites a MADRS difference versus placebo at Week 8 of -8.2 with p=0.025. The second asset, CTC-413 (now ALTO-208), is in development for Parkinson's disease and was tested in a Phase 2a trial in 13 patients. Alto's 10-K also says its earlier ALTO-100 Phase 2b trial in major depressive disorder did not meet its primary endpoint, and that a prior all-comer study of that drug did not reach statistical significance. ## About Alto Neuroscience In its [annual report on Form 10-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999480/000199948025000025/alto-20241231.htm), filed March 20, 2025, Alto describes itself as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that uses its Precision Psychiatry Platform to find brain-based biomarkers. The 10-K shows a net loss of $61,431 thousand for 2024, against $36,305 thousand for 2023, and an accumulated deficit of $138,396 thousand at December 31, 2024. Alto also has a term loan facility with a lender and Ankura Trust Company, LLC as collateral agent, which a January 2025 amendment raised to up to $75.0 million. The 8-K names no financial advisor or counsel to either side. [Report an error](https://aibio.space/reputation/#correction) ## Companies in this story ANRO Alto Neuroscience, Inc. NYSE ยท United States Open the starter desk ## More in Mergers Mergers ### [InMed sets November 5 record date for CVRs tied to Mentari merger](https://aibio.space/news/inmed-sets-november-5-record-date-cvrs-tied-mentari-merger/) Oct 27, 2026 Mergers ### [Rallybio declares estimated $82.7 million cash distribution tied to Avenzo merger](https://aibio.space/news/rallybio-declares-estimated-82-7-million-cash-distribution-tied-avenzo/) Oct 26, 2026 Mergers ### [Skye Bioscience files preliminary proxy for its Redx Pharma acquisition](https://aibio.space/news/skye-bioscience-files-preliminary-proxy-redx-pharma-acquisition/) Oct 26, 2026 --- Source page: https://aibio.space/news/alto-neuroscience-buys-depression-drug-candidates-chase-therapeutics/. Facts in aibio.space stories are checked against company filings and releases; opinion is labelled. Cite as: aibio.space, "Alto Neuroscience buys depression drug candidates from Chase Therapeutics", 2025-06-03, https://aibio.space/news/alto-neuroscience-buys-depression-drug-candidates-chase-therapeutics/