BridGene Biosciences and Takeda expand their collaboration

Privately-held BridGene Biosciences has announced a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Japan’s Takeda (TYO: 4502). The new deal expands on their initial 2021 partnership, valued at around $500 million, centered on chemoproteomics-based approaches to address "undruggable" targets.

Under the terms of the new collaboration, California-based BridGene will use its chemoproteomics platform, IMTAC, to discover novel small molecule drug candidates against challenging targets in immunology and neurology. The companies will work together to advance these projects through hit finding and early lead development. Takeda will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any potential products identified through the collaboration.

The research collaboration includes multiple targets and leverages the unique strength of BridGene’s IMTAC platform, which the US company says “excels” at discovering potential small molecule drugs against traditionally undruggable targets by employing a chemoproteomics-based approach.