Takeda partners up to develop "next generation" CAR T solid tumour therapy

Takeda is set to partner with Noile-Immune Biotech in the development of a "next generation" chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy for effectively treating solid tumours, it has emerged.

The therapy platform, for which Noile-Immune holds full license, was developed at Yamaguchi University by Professor Koji Tamada and works by producing cytokines, chemokines and other molecules in order to alter a solid tumour microenvironment to allow the anti-tumour properties of the therapy to work more effectively.

Takeda’s new partnership will seek to accelerate R&D efforts with this platform for the treatment of a range of cancers, and the Japanese firm will have exclusive options to the licensing rights of products within Noile-Immune’s pipeline and new products arising from their collaboration.

"This technology forms the basis for developing potentially transformational treatments for solid tumours," explained Dr Hidenobu Ishizaki, President of Noile-Immune. "The platform was developed by our Founder, Director, and CSMO, Professor Koji Tamada at the Department of Immunology at Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine. We believe our collaboration with Takeda is a significant step towards rapidly delivering therapies that use this technology to cancer patients."

Chris Arendt, Head of the Oncology Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda, added: "We recognise the enormous potential of next-generation CAR T cell therapy technology to deliver transformative medicines in oncology, one of our core therapeutic areas. This collaboration is another example of our commitment to invest in highly innovative technologies and to work with top external scientific and clinical teams as we seek to deliver therapies that address the needs of patients with cancer.  We are especially excited that our collaboration with the outstanding team at Noile-Immune will be located at our cutting-edge Shonan Research Center in Japan, allowing our Takeda scientists to work side-by-side with the Noile-Immune team to accelerate the advancement of innovative cellular immunotherapies to the clinic."