Ambys Medicines And Takeda Announce Partnership To Pioneer First-In-Class Therapies For The Treatment Of Serious Liver Diseases

Ambys Medicines, a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of transformative therapies for people with serious liver disease, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) announced recently that they have entered into a partnership to support the advancement of the Ambys platform and pipeline.

“We are thrilled that Takeda has joined us at the outset to develop our vision to build a transformative approach to liver diseases. Ambys will undertake an intense and sustained effort to advance fundamental science and technology, while developing multiple programs aimed at diverse liver disease targets,” said Jeffrey Tong, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Ambys Medicines and venture partner with Third Rock Ventures. “We are uniting a broad range of scientific innovators to help lead a new era of discovery and clinical translation for people with severe liver diseases, and we are delighted to join forces with Takeda in this important effort.”

Ambys is pioneering the application of novel modalities, including cell and gene therapy and gain-of-function drug therapy, to meet the urgent need for treatments that restore liver function and prevent the progression to liver failure across multiple liver diseases that are untreatable or poorly treated today.

This is in alignment with Takeda’s strategy in gastroenterology to focus on the considerable unmet need in liver through significant investment in novel chemistry and cell/gene therapy platforms.

“This partnership underscores the exciting potential we see to deliver on the promise of regenerative medicine for people with liver disease,” said Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., Head, Gastroenterology Therapeutic Area Unit at Takeda.

“Takeda has been an innovator not only in the way it is looking to develop new medicines, but also in the models in which it works to partner with biotech companies,” said Charles Homcy, M.D., Ambys board member and partner at Third Rock Ventures.

Under the terms of the partnership agreement, Takeda has committed $100M, including participation in the Series A financing. In return, Takeda receives an option to ex-U.S. commercialization rights for the first four products that reach an investigational new drug (IND) application created under the partnership. If Takeda elects to exercise an option for a product, Takeda will share in 50% of the development costs for any optioned program and will make development and regulatory milestone payments. Ambys retains full U.S. rights.