Maruho and RaQualia Enter License Agreement for Selective Sodium Channel Blocker
Nagoya and Osaka (Japan), December 25, 2017 - RaQualia Pharma Inc. ("RaQualia", Head Office: Nagoya, Japan, President and CEO: Naoki Tani) and Maruho Co., Ltd. ("Maruho", Head Office: Osaka, Japan, President and CEO: Koichi Takagi) announced that the two companies entered into a worldwide license agreement with exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a selective sodium channel blocker (hereinafter "the compound") created by RaQualia.
Under this agreement, Maruho will pay RaQualia an upfront payment, development milestone payments, and sales royalties.
Sodium channels are expressed in muscle and nervous tissues and are known to transmit sensations such as pain and itch. The compound is expected to provide new treatment options alleviating symptoms such as pain and itch by selectively blocking the function of a specific type of sodium channel.
The two companies came to this agreement because RaQualia's development strengths in the technology of ion channel drug discovery matched up with Maruho's intention to pursue the creation of novel therapeutic drugs containing the compound as an active ingredient.
RaQualia and Maruho will continue to contribute to the improvement of quality of life in patients by providing new therapeutic treatment options.