Presage Biosciences announced a new research collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company that will utilize CIVO to evaluate multiple investigational oncology agents and combinations in Phase 0 trials.
The agreement includes evaluation of a specified new investigational agent, as well as options for additional future projects over the next several years. All projects will involve the use of CIVO to evaluate patients' unique responses to microdoses of cancer drugs. The agreement includes undisclosed upfront and milestone payments to Presage.
"Takeda's partnership with Presage has yielded valuable learnings across our early immuno-oncology pipeline and this expansion of our collaboration represents a natural evolution of our fruitful efforts," said Chris Arendt, Head, Oncology Therapeutic Area Unit at Takeda. "The ability to gain critical mechanistic insights earlier in the development process is invaluable in clinical translation and can ultimately help us to accelerate advancing innovative oncology medicines to patients who may benefit."
"We are pleased to enter into this new, expanded alliance with Takeda – our longstanding collaborator with a deep oncology pipeline – that will further the company's investigational efforts to rapidly advance anticancer agents and combinations with the most potential," said Rich Klinghoffer, PhD, Presage CEO. "For far too long, early cancer drug development has been reliant on laboratory models of cancer that serve as poor proxies of human tumors. It's time to change that paradigm and employ platforms like CIVO to safely and more accurately evaluate novel therapies in cancer patients."