Takeda signs HIV-drug licensing agreement with Tobira

Takeda Pharmaceutical has announced the signing of an exclusive global development, manufacturing and marketing agreement with Tobira Therapeutics relating to two investigational anti-HIV compounds – TAK-220 and TAK-652.

According to the terms of this agreement, Tobira will pay Takeda an initial license fee for these drug candidates, in addition to further funds upon the attainment of specified development and marketing landmarks, in addition to a set royalty on future sales.

Financial details of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed.

TAK-220 and TAK-652 are orally-administered CCR5 antagonists that bind to these receptors in order to inhibit the entry of the HIV-1 virus into activated T-Cells and macrophages.

Dr Kiyoshi Kitazawa, managing director, general manager of the strategic product planning department at Takeda, said: “We expect that the development activities will be successfully conducted by Tobira, whose management team has excellent expertise in the field of research and development of anti-HIV investigational compounds.”

He added that these efforts could result in the development of new treatment options for patients with HIV.

Last month, Takeda featured in the top ten rankings of company searches on the Piribo independent research store for the first five months of the year.