EditForce, Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC) to research, develop and commercialize potential gene therapy products for a specific target disease related to the central nervous system (CNS) by utilizing EditForces pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein platform technology.<\/p>\n
MTPC and EditForce aim to create potential novel pharmaceuticals for the specific CNS disease by utilizing the drug R&D know-how and global business experience of MTPC and the novel biotechnology of EditForce.<\/p>\n
MTPC will acquire the exclusive right to conduct the selection of drug candidate molecules, preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization worldwide.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the agreement, EditForce will receive an upfront payment and milestone payments amounting to more than 20 billion yen ($147.3 million), depending on the development stage and commercialization progress, and royalties based on worldwide sales after the launch.<\/p>\n
I am so delighted to reach the agreement with MTPC, which has an interest in our proprietary PPR protein platform technology, said Takashi Ono, president and CEO of EditForce.<\/p>\n
We look forward to working closely with MTPC to develop and deliver breakthrough pharmaceutical products with our technology to patients suffering from diseases.<\/p>\n
PPR is a protein discovered in plants that regulates gene expression by binding to DNA and RNA in a sequence-specific manner. The PPR proteins are also found in humans and yeasts, and they have similar functions.<\/p>\n
Takahiro Nakamura and Yusuke Yagi, CTO of EditForce, have focused on the PPR proteins and elucidated the mechanism that determines sequence specificity, and established a technology for creating various PPR proteins, each of which binds to a specific target DNA or RNA sequence.<\/p>\n
It is possible to manipulate and modify the target genome and RNA both inside and outside the cell by fusion with effector proteins.<\/p>\n
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EditForce and Mitsubishi Tanabi Pharma to work on gene therapy for CNS - Labiotech.eu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EditForce, Inc. Continue reading