Wave Life Sciences and Takeda Pharmaceutical amended their ongoing collaboration, immediately discontinuing the discovery research component that provided Takeda with the right to license multiple preclinical programs for central nervous system indications over a four-year research term.
Photo: Paul Bolno, president and CEO of Wave Life Sciences
Under terms of the amendment, Takeda will pay Wave $22.5 million for collaboration-related research and preclinical expenses. The amendment allows Wave to advance CNS programs independently or enter partnerships in the CNS field outside of the three specified targets, which are part of the ongoing late-stage collaboration between the companies.
The late-stage component of the original collaboration led by Wave remains unchanged, including Takeda’s option to co-develop and co-commercialize CNS therapies for three targets, C9orf72, HTT and ATXN3, including WVE-004 and WVE-003. WVE-004 is currently being investigated in the ongoing phase 1b/2a FOCUS-C9 clinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, and WVE-003 is being studied in the ongoing phase 1b/2a SELECT-HD clinical trial for the treatment of Huntington’s disease.
Should Takeda opt in on any of these programs, Wave would receive an opt-in payment and would lead manufacturing and joint clinical co-development activities. Takeda would lead joint co-commercial activities in the United States and all commercial activities outside of the United States. Global costs and potential profits would be shared 50:50 and Wave would be eligible to receive development and commercial milestone payments.
“This amendment streamlines our existing collaboration with Takeda and immediately enables us to advance or partner early-stage CNS programs, outside of the C9orf72, HTT, and ATXN3 targets, and including those leveraging our ADAR editing capability,” said Paul Bolno, president and CEO of Wave Life Sciences.
Wave’s cash runway remains unchanged. The company expects that its existing cash and cash equivalents, together with expected and committed cash from its existing collaboration, will enable the company to fund its operating and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2023.
Wave’s technology targets a broad range of genetically defined diseases with the development of best-in-class medicines across multiple therapeutic modalities using PRISM, the company’s proprietary discovery and drug development platform that enables the precise design, optimization and production of stereopure oligonucleotides.
Author: Rare Daily Staff
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