Otsuka and Takara team up to develop gene therapy candidates in oncology

Tokyo’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4578) has entered into an agreement with fellow Japanese firm Takara Bio (TYO: 4974) to co-develop two of Takara's gene therapy candidates.

Otsuka has also bought the exclusive rights to market the products in Japan, and a right of first refusal for nine Asian countries outside Japan. Takara will receive upfront and milestone payments of up to about 6.3 billion yen ($58 million).

The deal relates to NY-ESO-1 siTCRTM (TBI-1301, TBI-1301-A), which has been granted priority review, or ‘Sakigage’ status by Japan’s medicines regulator, and CD19 CAR (TBI-1501), both of which are in development for cancer applications.