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.