BRIEF—Eisai returns rights to CNS candidate to Modalis

Japanese drugmaker Eisai is no longer working with the biotech Modalis Therapeutics to co-develop a CNS candidate MDL205.

MDL-205 is a program targeting one of the central nervous system diseases, and Modalis has been conducting joint research and development since 2019.

The company and Eisai aimed at drug discovery for the disease using Modalis’ proprietary CRISPR-GNDM platform and were able to achieve a certain level of success. However, at the expiration of the joint research and development agreement and evaluation period for MDL-205,

Modalis received notification from Eisai that it would not extend the collaboration period or exercise its option right for a license today.

If MDL-205 is removed from the collaboration pipeline as described above, Modalis has five In-house pipelines, and together with the two pipelines in collaboration, the company now has a total of seven products in our pipeline.

Tokyo-based Modalis uses CRISPR technology to develop novel treatments for rare diseases. It has licensed two candidates -MDL201/202 - to Japanese pharma major Astellas to treat some muscle disorders.