CORE Biomedicine has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise several oncology programmes created by Eisai and organisations affiliated with the Japanese pharmaceutical group.

The assets are preclinical programmes targeting molecules involved in the development and growth of cancer.

The companies have not disclosed the specific targets, number of drug candidates or financial terms of the agreement, including upfront and milestone payments.

CORE simultaneously announced that it had raised US$21 million in Series A financing. The company intends to combine the licensed research with its new capital to select development candidates and prepare them for clinical testing.

This is not a partnership to commercialise an already completed medicine.

CORE is taking responsibility for early-stage programmes originating from Eisai’s research activities.

Large pharmaceutical companies frequently maintain more drug-discovery projects than they can advance internally. A change in research priorities may leave potentially valuable programmes without the resources required to reach clinical development.

Licensing those assets to a specialised biotechnology company allows the original pharmaceutical group to retain a potential future economic interest while another organisation continues the work.

For CORE, the agreement provides a portfolio of programmes with existing research behind them. That could allow the company to build its pipeline more rapidly than if it attempted to discover every candidate from the beginning.

It does not remove the underlying risk. Preclinical oncology assets still have a high probability of failing before or during human trials.

CORE describes its strategy as cell-lineage precision oncology.

Modern cancer treatments increasingly use genetic mutations to identify which patients may respond to a particular drug. But two tumours carrying the same mutation do not necessarily behave identically.

Their response may also depend on the tissue and type of cell from which the cancer originated.

CORE is studying the biological pathways upon which different cancer-cell lineages depend. Its objective is to identify molecules that certain tumours require to survive and develop drugs capable of disrupting them.

The company’s existing candidate, CORE-1201, is an oral small-molecule drug targeting a transcription factor associated with selected bladder, pancreatic, gastric and colorectal cancers.

It remains in non-clinical development as CORE prepares for potential human trials.

The US$21 million Series A was jointly led by the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners’ collaborative platform and Elikon Venture.

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital also participated, alongside investors based in China and the United States.

CORE Biomedicine Japan has separately been selected for a drug-discovery startup support programme operated by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, known as AMED.

That support is expected to help the company conduct research and work with Japanese universities, hospitals and biopharmaceutical specialists.

CORE maintains operations in the United States, Japan and China.

This international structure may allow the company to combine scientific and management capabilities in the US, funding and medical partnerships in Japan, and research resources across the wider Asian market.

It also creates operational complexity. Drug development must remain consistent across teams, laboratories and regulatory environments in several countries.

The announcement does not identify the targets or development priorities of the individual programmes licensed from Eisai.

That makes it difficult to evaluate the immediate value of the portfolio.

The next important milestone will be the selection of a formal drug candidate. Investors and potential partners will then need to see whether CORE can complete the required safety and manufacturing work and submit an application to begin clinical trials.

Progress by CORE-1201 will provide an earlier indication of the company’s ability to move a scientific concept towards human testing.

The Series A and Eisai agreement give CORE access to capital and a broader research pipeline. Neither guarantees that a medicine will reach patients.

The company has acquired promising scientific projects. Its next challenge is converting them into independently validated clinical assets.

SAKIME
East Asian startups, technology and international investment opportunities.
Web: sakime.jp
Author — Adrià Mas Rodríguez

This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute medical or investment advice.