BERNARDSVILLE, N.J., March 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anima Biotech, the leader in the discovery of small molecule drugs that selectively control mRNA translation, today announced that the company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (?Takeda?) to discover and develop a new class of medicines for genetically-defined neurological diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, Anima will use its Translation Control Therapeutics platform to discover novel mRNA translation modulators against the collaboration targets. The parties will collaborate to advance the molecules to clinical candidates, which Takeda has the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize. The preclinical research collaboration will initially include Anima?s early Huntington?s Disease program against the HTT target, selectively inhibiting the mutated protein with small molecules and two additional targets named by Takeda, related to neurological diseases. Takeda will pay Anima up to approximately $120 million in upfront and preclinical research milestone payments and up to $1.1 billion in clinical and commercial milestones, assuming success of the three programs. Anima is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of each product resulting from the collaboration. Takeda has a time limited option to expand the collaboration with up to three additional targets subject to additional payments to Anima of up to $1.2 billion and tiered royalties, assuming success of these programs. ?Anima Biotech?s expertise in understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms of protein expression in the central nervous system makes them an ideal partner to explore this novel area of drug discovery,? said Ceri Davies, Head, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda. ?By combining Anima?s platform with our strength in translational medicine and clinical development, we aim to develop medicines that deliver greater benefits to patients with genetically-defined neurological diseases where there are non-existent or ineffective treatment options.? ?Partnering is a core strategy of Anima and our model is to build collaborations that maximize the probability of success by combining our discovery platform and expertise in translation control biology with the scientific, clinical and commercial capabilities of our partners,? said Yochi Slonim, Anima?s co-founder & CEO. ?Takeda?s leadership and depth of scientific expertise in the CNS area is ideally suited for our second Pharma partnership in Neuroscience and further validates our leadership in mRNA translation control. We are looking forward to working together with Takeda in a true collaboration model.? About Anima Biotech Anima Biotech is pioneering Translation Control Therapeutics, a novel approach for the discovery of small molecules that selectively control mRNA translation as a new strategy against undruggable proteins. With our proprietary technology that emits light pulses from ribosomes, we identify drug candidates that selectively decrease or increase the translation of proteins and elucidate their mechanism of action in a new target space. Our pipeline includes programs in Fibrosis (tissue selective Collagen I translation inhibitors), Oncology (c-Myc translation inhibitors and K-Ras translation inhibitors), RSV (viral translation inhibitors) and Repeat Associated Diseases (translation malfunctions in multiple neurological diseases). In addition to our pipeline, we have established partnerships for the discovery and development of mRNA translation modulators in Neuroscience, including our strategic partnerships with Lilly and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (?Takeda?). Our science was further validated with seven patents, 15 peer reviewed publications and 17 scientific collaborations. To learn more about us, visit?https://www.animabiotech.com. Media Contact: Andrew Mielach LifeSci Communications +1.646.876.5868 amielach@lifescicomms.com