Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Takeda to Collab with Wave in Commitment to Develop Innovative Treatments for Neurological Diseases

By Takeda | February 22, 2018

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced it has entered into a research, development and commercial collaboration and multi-program option agreement with Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (Wave) to develop antisense oligonucleotides for genetically-defined neurological diseases. This partnership supports Takeda’s externalization strategy, which focuses on collaborations that complement its internal pipeline of programs, and represents the next generation of innovative therapies to treat diseases with no current treatment options.

“Takeda is deeply committed to pursuing innovative approaches in neuroscience research and development,” said Emiliangelo Ratti, Head, Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Unit at Takeda. “Our collaboration with Wave will further enable our focus to accelerate the development of transformational therapies for patients for whom there are currently no treatments available.”

The first component of the collaboration with Wave will focus on programs targeting Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3). Wave is developing oligonucleotide therapeutics to target diseases that have been historically difficult to treat with small molecules or biologics. Their molecules are designed to reduce the expression of disease-promoting proteins or to transform the production of dysfunctional mutant proteins into the production of functional proteins, with the potential of treating the targeted disease. The first component of this collaboration will investigate the following potential therapies with the option to co-develop and co-commercialize after demonstration of clinical proof of mechanism:

  • WVE-120101 and WVE-120102, which selectively target mutant huntingtin and are currently in Phase 1b/2a clinical trials for the treatment of HD
  • WVE-3972-01, which targets C9ORF72and isexpected to be evaluated in clinical studies for the treatment of ALS and FTD beginning in Q4 2018
  • Program targeting ATXN3 for the treatment of SCA3

The second component of the collaboration provides Takeda with the rights to exclusively license multiple preclinical programs targeting other neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. At any one time during a four-year term, the companies may collaborate on up to six preclinical programs.

“At Takeda, we are focused on partnering with companies that share our research focus and commitment to deliver transformative medicines to patients,” said Daniel Curran, M.D., Head, Center for External Innovation at Takeda. “Wave’s expertise in optimizing oligonucleotidesoffers a complementary approach to programs that Takeda is currently pursuing for neurological disorders, maximizing our potential for success, and their pipeline and focus are closely aligned with our own.”

This collaboration with Wave is part of Takeda’s overall partnership strategy and deepened commitment in neuroscience, which also includes recently signed collaboration agreements with Mindstrong Health to explore the development of digital biomarkers for selected mental health conditions, and Denali Therapeutics, a company with an innovative platform technology for transporting antibodies into the brain, to develop and commercialize therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.


Filed Under: Drug Discovery

 

Related Articles Read More >

Sanders, King target DTC pharma ads but the industry worries more about threats to its $2B R&D model
Zoliflodacin wins FDA nod for treatment of gonorrhea
FDA approved ENFLONSIA for the prevention of RSV in Infants
First clinical study results of Dupixent for atopic dermatitis in patients with darker skin tones 
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE