VANCOUVER, British Columbia & BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genevant Sciences, a leading nucleic acid delivery company with world-class platforms and the industry?s most robust and expansive lipid nanoparticle (LNP) patent estate, today announced that it has entered into a global collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (?Takeda?) for the discovery, development and commercialization of LNP-delivered nucleic acid therapeutics directed to previously inaccessible drug targets in hepatic stellate cells to treat liver fibrosis.

?It is well established that activated hepatic stellate cells are implicated in the progression of fibrotic liver disease, but unfortunately access to these cells has been elusive?

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?It is well established that activated hepatic stellate cells are implicated in the progression of fibrotic liver disease, but unfortunately access to these cells has been elusive,? said Pete Lutwyche, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, Genevant Sciences Corporation. ?As longstanding leaders in nucleic acid delivery, Genevant has developed a novel hepatic stellate cell-directed LNP platform to meet this challenge and we are delighted to partner with Takeda to utilize this innovation to develop new treatments for patients suffering from liver fibrosis.?

?Late-stage liver disease remains an area where new treatment options are desperately needed, so we are committed to exploring new and innovative approaches,? said Bernard Allan, head of liver disease research at Takeda. ?The ability to target hepatic stellate cells with novel payloads leveraging Genevant?s lipid nanoparticle technology is an exciting opportunity to discover and develop first-in-class therapies that we anticipate will halt or reverse the progression of liver fibrosis.?

Under the terms of the agreement, Genevant is initially eligible to receive up to $600 million in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties on future product sales. Takeda has exclusive rights to Genevant?s LNP technology for a specified number of selected hepatic stellate cells targets.

About Genevant Sciences

Genevant Sciences is a leading nucleic acid delivery company with world-class platforms, the industry?s most robust and expansive lipid nanoparticle (LNP) patent estate, and decades of experience and expertise in nucleic acid drug delivery and development. The Company?s scientists have pioneered LNP delivery of nucleic acids for over 20 years, and the Company?s LNP platform, which has been studied across more than a dozen discrete product candidates and is the delivery technology behind the first and only approved RNAi-LNP (patisiran), enables a wide array of RNA-based applications, including vaccines, therapeutic protein production, and gene editing. For more information, please visit?www.genevant.com.