Takeda and BioWa announce antibody technology licensing agreement

Takeda Pharmaceutical and BioWa have announced the signing of a non-exclusive licensing agreement giving Takeda the rights to use the Potelligent Technology platform from BioWa for the development of enhanced antibodies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda will gain the rights to use this technology to develop antibodies enhanced by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in exchange for initial license fees, payments on the attainment of development milestones and royalties of successfully marketed pharmaceutical products.

This technology is used to improve the efficacy and strength of antibody therapeutics by enhancing their ADCC – a mode of their mechanism.

Precise financial details of this agreement have not been published by either firm.

Shigenori Ohkawa, general manager of the pharmaceutical research division of Takeda, said: “We believe that the collaboration with BioWa will accelerate our drug discovery and development activities in therapeutic antibodies.”

He forecast that this field is set to become an important basis for the development of novel pharmaceutical products to meet currently unmet medical need.

Last month, Takeda announced that, together with Affymax, it had been recognised with a breakthrough alliance award from Allicense following the companies’ commercialisation of Hematite.