Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Cour Pharmaceutical Development Company, announced a partnership to research and develop novel immune modulating therapies for the potential treatment of celiac disease. The partnership will focus on using nanotechnologies based on Cour’s Tolerizing Immune Modifying nanoParticle (TIMP) platform, which can be extended to certain autoimmune and allergic conditions by inhibiting the abnormal immune responses that cause disease, without affecting the beneficial parts of the immune system.

The collaboration will explore the potential of TIMP therapy to allow celiac patients to tolerate gluten in their diet. The TIMPs, developed in cooperation with Northwestern University researchers, consist of a proprietary polymer and antigenic proteins, which are fully encapsulated for safety and administered intravenously. The TIMP compounds target the underlying cause of celiac disease by systemically targeting and controlling, gluten-reactive T-cells in patients, as opposed to broad immunosuppression.

Cour will receive upfront and success based milestone payments from Takeda leading to an exclusive option to acquire a global license to the TIMP-GLIA program after the completion of the phase 2a clinical trial. Cour will also receive royalties on sales of any successful commercialized products resulting from the partnership. Takeda will also have the option to collaborate on up to three additional TIMP compounds each with development, regulatory, and sales milestones and royalties on sales. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“As a global leader in gastroenterology, Takeda is committed to the discovery and development of treatments and products to improve the health of patients with gastrointestinal disorders,” said Dr. Gareth Hicks, head of Takeda’s Gastroenterology Drug Discovery Unit.

“In line with our GI drug discovery unit’s focus on building partnerships with groups developing highly novel therapeutic approaches to the treatment of GI diseases, we are excited to initiate this significant collaboration with Cour to create potential new and innovative therapies to meet the substantially unmet needs of these patients.”

“Cour is very pleased to be partnering with Takeda, and our collaboration marks an important breakthrough in the development of therapies for patients suffering from celiac disease,” said John J. Puisis, CEO and co-founder of Cour.

“Takeda is the ideal partner based on the company’s strong foundation in gastroenterology and expertise in the discovery and development of therapies meeting unmet needs in patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases.”