Takeda transfers Alzheimer's type dementia drug candidate TAK-070 to Tokyo university

Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4502) says that it has finalized a contract to transfer TAK-070, which was previously developed by Takeda as a potential treatment of Alzheimer-type dementia, to the National University Corp, The University of Tokyo (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan).

Based on the contract, Takeda will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and a certain rate of royalty from the sales generated through the University of Tokyo if TAK-070 is commercialized. No other financial terms were disclosed.

TAK-070 was discovered by Takeda, and acts to inhibit the beta-secretase enzyme. Amyloid-beta-protein is postulated as a fundamental cause of Alzheimer-type dementia, and is produced by the action of beta-secretase on Amyloid-beta-precursor protein. TAK-070 therefore suppresses the production of amyloid-beta protein by inhibiting this beta-secretase.