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Toray and Maruho Enter License Agreement for RORγt Inhibitor

Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), March 14, 2017 - Toray Industries, Inc. ("Toray" Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiro Nikkaku) and Maruho Co., Ltd ("Maruho", Head Office: Osaka, Japan, President and CEO: Koichi Takagi) announce today that they have entered into a license agreement with worldwide exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a RORγt inhibitor (hereinafter "the compound") originated by Toray.
Under this agreement, Maruho will pay Toray an upfront payment and milestone payments upon the achievement of development milestones. In addition, Maruho will pay royalties on net sales according to sales amounts of the product developed by Maruho.

RORγt (Retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t) is a regulatory factor in the activation of Th17 cells(*2), which is one type of helper T-cell(*1), and is involved in the progression or worsening of autoimmune diseases. By inhibiting RORγt, this compound is expected to suppress excessive immune responses and could becomea therapeutic drug for various autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.

The two companies came to this agreement because Toray's intention to accelerate the research and development in autoimmune diseases, which is one of Toray's priority areas, matched up with Maruho's intention to pursue the creation of novel therapeutic drugs.
In the future, Maruho will proceed with the development of therapeutic drugs with this compound as an active ingredient.

Toray and Maruho will continue to contribute to the health of patients by providing new options for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.


(* 1) Cells that produce proteins that promote inflammation and regulate immune responses.
(* 2) Immune cells that produce proteins that promote inflammation such as IL-17. They play an important role in the worsening of autoimmune diseases.

About Toray Industries, Inc.
Toray has its headquarters in Tokyo and is a basic materialsmanufacturer including fibers and plastics.
Founded in 1926, Toray has 45,839 employees (as of the end of March 2016), and net sales were approximately 2,104.4 billion yen in its fiscal year ending March 2016.
With the corporate philosophy of "Contributing to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products", as a part of the basic materials industry, Toray have been striving relentlessly to develop and commercialize new technologies and products that contribute to the global environment as well as the security, safety and quality of life of people.
For more information, please visit http://www.toray.com/

About Maruho Co., Ltd.
Maruho has its headquarters in Osaka and leads Japan in research and development, manufacturing and commercialization of dermatological products. Founded in 1915, Maruho has 1,398 employees (as of the end of September 2016), and net sales were approximately 70.1 billion yen in its 2016 fiscal year. Pursuing its long-term corporate vision of "Excellence in Dermatology," Maruho is striving to improve the health and quality of life of people all over the world.
For more information, please visit https://www.maruho.co.jp/english/

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