Daiichi Sankyo collaborates on gene therapy to restore vision

Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) has commenced an open innovation research program relating to a gene therapy for restoring vision with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and the Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITech).

In a project under TaNeDS, Daiichi Sankyo’s open competition grant program for joint drug discovery research, the laboratory led by Professor Hideki Kandori of Life Science and Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology discovered that a highly active, novel photo-responsive protein (GtCCR4) could be applied to the restoration of vision.

In the research, the performance of GtCCR4 will be further enhanced and its applicability in gene therapy verified, with the aim of developing an innovatory gene therapy for patients who have lost their vision due to retinitis pigmentosa, for which there is a high unmet medical need.