Takeda Partners with Evox Therapeutics in $882M Deal to Advance Exosome-Based Therapies for Rare Diseases

Compiled by Fan Dongdong

Evox Therapeutics, headquartered in Oxford, UK, recently announced a rare disease partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. The collaboration focuses on developing up to five protein replacement therapies and mRNA treatments, including Evox’s preclinical program for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) and another undisclosed rare disease program. As part of the agreement, Takeda also holds options for three additional rare disease projects.

Dr. Antonin de Fougerolles, CEO of Evox Therapeutics, stated, “Takeda is a recognized leader in the field of rare disease therapeutics. We are delighted to enter into this strategic, multi-objective collaboration with Takeda and look forward to working together to advance exosome-based drug delivery technologies into clinical development. Furthermore, this transaction will significantly extend Evox’s cash runway into the second half of 2022, enabling us to actively expand our proprietary pipeline of rare disease therapies, including our urea cycle disorder program, which we aim to enter into clinical trials in 2021.”

Evox Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on leveraging the natural delivery capabilities of extracellular vesicles (exosomes) to develop novel therapies that enable diverse therapeutics to reach previously inaccessible tissues. These include facilitating drug transport across the blood-brain barrier to the central nervous system, enabling intracellular delivery of biologics, and allowing RNA therapies to be applied to specific liver diseases. The partnership with Takeda will enable Evox Therapeutics to continue advancing its proprietary exosome-based targeted drug delivery technology, while also leveraging Takeda’s development and clinical expertise to propel these collaborative programs into clinical stages.

Madhu Natarajan, Head of Rare Disease Drug Discovery at Takeda, stated, “Evox has developed a novel approach to treating devastating diseases. Targeted and non-targeted exosomes provide a highly differentiated drug delivery platform. Our collaboration with Evox on its exosome platform also complements our capabilities in cell and gene therapy. In addition to advancing our adenovirus platform, this partnership will help us develop new drug delivery methods, providing transformative or functional therapies for patients with rare diseases.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Evox Therapeutics is eligible to receive a $44 million upfront payment, along with future milestone payments and research funding. This means that Evox Therapeutics is eligible to receive up to $882 million in funding from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Evox Therapeutics will also have the opportunity to receive profit-sharing for each product, i.e., royalties. Evox Therapeutics will be primarily responsible for advancing the research and development activities of each collaborative project until the initiation of trials related to the New Drug Application (NDA) and Phase I clinical trials. Meanwhile, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited will be responsible for the manufacturing costs incurred after the preclinical handover plan by Evox Therapeutics.

References:

1、Takeda antes up $44M for rare disease pact, turning to Oxford spinout's exosome tech

2、Evox Therapeutics and Takeda Sign Multi-target Rare Disease Collaboration