Takeda Enters Three Drug-Development Deals

Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical has announced several new drug-development agreements.

Takeda has executed an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration agreement with Korea's LG Life Sciences to discover, develop and commercialize obesity drugs. LG will employ its capabilities in drug discovery, including medicinal chemistry research and pharmacological evaluation, while Takeda will be responsible for conducting subsequent research, development and commercialization.

Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda will be granted exclusive rights to the compounds for the worldwide market except Korea and Vietnam, and semiexclusive rights for India. LG will receive an upfront payment and research funding, milestone payments for research, development and commercialization exceeding $100 million, and royalty payments on product sales once the compounds are commercialized. Other financial terms were not disclosed.

Takeda also announced it has acquired the development and commercial rights from 3M for R-851, a treatment for human papillomavirus infection and cervical dysplasia. Under the agreement, Takeda will obtain full rights for R-851 for these indications, while 3M will receive certain development milestones and royalty payments once R-851 is successfully commercialized.

Finally, Takeda has signed a collaboration agreement with CanBas to develop investigational compounds to treat cancer. Takeda will be granted exclusive rights for the development, manufacturing and marketing of the compounds worldwide, and the two companies will share the development and promotion of the compounds in the U.S.