Toray Industries, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have concluded a joint development and marketing agreement on an investigational compound for frequent urination/urinary incontinence.

The compound was found from the compound library of Toray as a potential treatment for such diseases, through joint research by both parties that started in June 2000.

Under the terms of the agreement, Toray and Takeda are responsible for
development and marketing in Japan and overseas countries respectively, and this collaboration scheme is expected to enable the efficient development processes for earliest possible commercialization of this compound. The compound is now in the preparation stage for Phase I studies in the US.

Frequent urination and urinary incontinence are mostly seen as the symptoms of the overactive bladder (OAB) with increased patients in line with aging, and affect the quality of life (QOL) remarkably because the daily lifestyle habits such as the night-time sleep or transportation are disturbed.

Currently, theses symptoms are treated with anticholinergic agents which are
known to have side effects such as dry mouth, constant urge to urinate and
constipation. Based on the findings to date, this compound has different mechanism of action to suppress the bladder hypersensitivity with high selectivity, and is expected to have lesser side effects which can be seen with the treatment by anticholinergic agents. Therefore, it can be a treatment option with new mechanism of action for frequent urination and urinary incontinence, contributing to improvement of the QOL of the patients.

OAB is brought by excess contraction of bladder smooth muscles due to CNS diseases such as cerebrovascular disorders, dementia and multiple sclerosis, or aging and prostate hypertrophy. According to some epidemiological data, 17% of the total population in Western countries, and 12% of population over 40 years old in Japan, are affected by this disease.

It has different and new mechanism of action as compared to conventional treatments for frequent urination and urinary incontinence such as anticholinergic agents.