Takeda Pharmaceutical and Maverick Therapeutics have been R&D partners since 2017. In buying out its partner, Takeda acquires technology and drug candidates that could offer advantages compared to CAR-T therapies, including the potential to treat solid tumors.
Takeda Pharmaceutical gains full rights to a small molecule that has shown promise treating seizures in several rare forms of epilepsy. Meanwhile, Ovid Therapeutics gains cash to support its pipeline of neurological disease drug candidates.
The data from a Phase II pilot and an extension study of soticlestat, also known as OV935 or TAK-935, showed short- and long-term reductions of seizure frequency in patients with CDKL5 deficiency disorder and Dup15q syndrome.
Three of the companies making drugs used in the Phase II I-SPY COVID-19 study – Amgen, AbbVie and Takeda – announced the patient enrollments Monday. The study, which will enroll up to 1,500 critically ill patients, could test around 10 drugs.