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4 October 2019AmericasRory O'Neill

US biotech licenses antibody from Takeda for new kidney drugs

Goldfinch Bio, a US company focused on developing treatments for kidney disease, has agreed to license a cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) antibody from Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer Takeda.

Under the terms of the deal, announced yesterday, October 3 Goldfinch will gain worldwide rights to the CB1 inhibitor for treating metabolic and rare kidney diseases.

Takeda will be able to request negotiations to sub-license Japanese rights to the CB1 antibody, which has been renamed GFB-024.

Goldfinch said it plans to file an investigational new drug application for the CB1 inhibitor in the second half of 2020.

“In recent years, our understanding of the role of CB1 signaling in exacerbating progressive kidney diseases has grown substantially,” said Anthony Johnson, president and CEO of Goldfinch Bio.

“In this context, a monoclonal antibody directed toward the CB1 receptor is potentially well-suited to elicit the beneficial pharmacology associated with the peripheral inhibition of the CB1 receptor,” Johnson said.

Dan Curran, senior vice president and head of the rare diseases therapeutic area unit at Takeda, said that Goldfinch was “ideally suited to advance development of this program”.

“The application of its precision medicine approach, from candidate target validation through to identification of potential treatment-relevant subgroups, is unique in the development of chronic metabolic kidney disease treatments,” Curran said.

Goldfinch said that its preclinical data supports the inhibition of CB1 signalling as a treatment for diabetic kidney disease and obesity-related glomerulopathies.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

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