JAPAN – Takeda and BridGene have expanded their collaboration to develop small molecule drugs for immunology and neurology, in a deal worth up to US $770 million.
Takeda will pay US $46 million upfront to use BridGene’s IMTAC chemoproteomics platform, which screens small molecules against all proteins in live cells to discover drugs for hard-to-target diseases.
According to BridGene, about 90% of disease-related proteins cannot be targeted by traditional drugs due to the absence of known binding sites.
IMTAC aims to overcome this challenge by identifying potential drug candidates for these undruggable targets.
Under the agreement, Takeda gains exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any resulting drugs. BridGene may also receive up to US $770 million in milestone payments and tiered royalties based on sales.
This deal builds on their March 2021 partnership, valued at US $500 million, which focused on discovering drug targets for neurodegenerative diseases. BridGene achieved two milestones in 2023 under this initial agreement.
Commenting on the expanded partnership, Takeda’s chief scientific officer, Christopher Arendt, stated:
“By integrating BridGene’s IMTAC platform with Takeda’s scientific expertise, we aim to unlock a broader range of targets that have been considered undruggable, aligning with our core strategy in small molecule drug discovery.”
Takeda has been actively expanding its pipeline through multiple acquisitions. In December 2024, the company invested US $200 million in Keros Therapeutics’ investigational activin inhibitor elritercept for treating anemia, with the deal potentially reaching US $1.1 billion in milestones.
In November 2024, Takeda partnered with Alloy Therapeutics to develop CAR-T therapies using its iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) platform to advance treatments for solid tumors and blood cancers.
The company also closed two billion-dollar deals in May 2024:
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