Jazz Pharmaceuticals agreed on August 10, 2026 to acquire Actio Biosciences, a privately held San Diego biotech company, for $820 million in cash upfront. Actio shareholders can receive up to $500 million more if the company's lead drug reaches certain approval and sales milestones, which puts the total potential value at $1.32 billion.
The deal centres on ABS-1230, an experimental oral drug for KCNT1-related epilepsy. At closing, Actio will spin out its other programs, along with some managers and employees, into a new private company. Existing Actio investors will fund that company, and Jazz will take a minority stake in it plus certain related rights.
Both boards approved the agreement unanimously. The companies expect the deal to close by the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions. Jazz said it would pay with cash on hand and money drawn from existing financing facilities.
What Actio built
Actio was founded in October 2021 and is led by co-founder and chief executive David Goldstein, who previously co-founded Praxis Precision Medicines, according to BioPharma Dive. The company uses genetics to find targets behind rare inherited diseases and then designs small molecule drugs against them, with the aim of later testing the same drugs in more common conditions.
ABS-1230 blocks KCNT1, a potassium ion channel. Mutations in the KCNT1 gene cause a severe form of epilepsy that usually starts in infancy. According to the companies, about 2,500 people in the United States have the condition, many have dozens or even hundreds of seizures a day that do not respond to standard medicines, and there is no FDA-approved treatment. Patients whose disease begins later in life tend to have seizures at night, often together with cognitive and psychiatric problems.
In lab studies the drug inhibited the channel across every disease-causing mutation the company could test. In an early proof-of-concept study in children, it produced what the companies called meaningful seizure reductions, though they did not publish figures. An ongoing Phase 1b/2a trial, called KYRON, is designed to be the registrational study for a U.S. marketing application. The FDA has granted ABS-1230 Fast Track, Rare Pediatric Disease and Orphan Drug designations and accepted it into its Rare Disease Evidence Principles program.
“We chose to partner with Jazz because they combine a purpose-led culture with a world-class development engine and the commercial scale to ensure ABS-1230 is brought to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Why Jazz is buying
Jazz, based in Dublin, sells medicines for epilepsy, cancer and sleep disorders. Its epilepsy business is built around Epidiolex, which the company describes as a durable franchise. Chief executive Renee Gala said ABS-1230 builds on that franchise and deepens the company's position in rare and severe epilepsies.
Jazz also sees room to test the drug in other genetic epilepsies beyond KCNT1. By leaving Actio's earlier programs in a separate company, Jazz pays for the asset closest to market while keeping a smaller, indirect interest in the rest of the pipeline. Gala said Jazz would work with patient groups and regulators to bring the drug to children and families who currently have no treatment options.
What happens to the rest of Actio
The spun-out company will focus on genetic rare neurological diseases. Its lead program is ABS-0871, a drug that blocks the TRPV4 ion channel, for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C, an inherited nerve disorder. Actio has said it may also test ABS-0871 in overactive bladder. The new company will also take earlier-stage work, including a third program aimed at another rare genetic epilepsy. The companies did not name the new entity or say how large Jazz's stake will be.
The founders and the funding
Actio came out of stealth in late 2023 with a $55 million Series A. In June 2025 it raised a $66 million Series B co-led by Regeneron Ventures and Deerfield Management, with Canaan, Droia Ventures and Euclidean Capital also taking part. Together the two rounds total about $121 million, meaning the upfront payment alone is more than six times the capital the company had raised.
Moelis & Company advised Jazz on the deal, with Hogan Lovells Cadwalader as legal counsel. J.P. Morgan Securities and Centerview Partners advised Actio, and Cooley acted as its lawyers. The companies did not disclose Actio's headcount.
