TOKYO, March 27, 2018 — Ube Industries, Ltd. and Curadim Pharma Co., Ltd. announced today that they have entered into a license agreement regarding Ube Industries' lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA1) selective antagonist (development code: CP2090; hereinafter "the compound").
Under the agreement, Curadim Pharma acquires the right to develop, manufacture, and market the compound and formulations using the compound worldwide. Ube Industries reserves the right to develop, manufacture, and market the compound's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a type of interstitial lung disease of unknown etiology. It has an extremely poor prognosis, with an average lifespan of three to five years after diagnosis. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a fatty liver disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, and it is regarded as a disease that can progress to hepatic cirrhosis or hepatic cancer. It is thought that LPA1 is related to the incidence and progression of these diseases through fibroblast migration and cytokine production. Ube Industries and Curadim Pharma expect that the compound, which is an excellent LPA1 selective antagonist, can contribute greatly to the treatment of fibrosis*1 with high unmet medical needs such as IPF and NASH.
Ube Industries aims to contribute to the health of people everywhere through community-based creation of technologically innovative drug. It has discovered the compound as the result of drug discovery research conducted on LPA1 selective antagonists, with the target disease of IPF, which is an intractable disease. The company decided to provide a license to Curadim Pharma to accelerate the development of the compound and get it into treatment settings as soon as possible.
Since its foundation in June 2016, Curadim Pharma has focused on pursuing innovative drug candidates. It has selected the compound from among many candidates and decided to in-license it as a pipeline to follow CP1050, which is already under clinical development. Curadim Pharma plans to start GLP*2non-clinical studies on the compound this year.
Ube Industries' operations are driven by its core chemicals business, and the company is also active in the fields of pharmaceuticals, cement and construction materials, machinery, and energy and environment. The pharmaceuticals business, one of the areas with the potential of promising growth, is consisting of two cores: "drug discovery," in which the company explores a new compound with excellent medicinal efficacy at its Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratory and pursues its commercialization through co-development with pharmaceutical companies, and "manufacturing of APIs and intermediates," in which the company manufactures the various bulk substances of pharmaceuticals. The president of Ube Industries is Yuzuru Yamamoto. See Ube Industries' website (https://www.ube.co.jp/ube/en/) for more details.
Curadim Pharma is a pipeline-driven bio-venture company that discovers and acquires innovative drug candidates in Japan to create value in bringing them non-clinical stage through early clinical development. It aims to contribute to treatment of diseases with high unmet medical needs by development of novel drugs originating in Japan. The president of Curadim Pharma is Tetsu Uchigasaki. See Curadim Pharma's website (http://curadim.co.jp) for more details.
*1 Fibrosis is a disease in which inflammation occurs in organs that are important for vital activity, such as the lungs, liver, or kidneys, and collagen fiber, such as type I collagen, accumulates during the recovery process, causing the organ to loose elasticity and become sclerotic, resulting in an inability to function normally.
*2 An abbreviation of Good Laboratory Practice, standards for ensuring the reliability of data by conducting non-clinical safety studies appropriately.
