San Diego, June 1, 2018 – Orphagen Pharmaceuticals, a privately held pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with the pharmaceutical division of Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) to discover, develop and commercialize drugs based on undisclosed nuclear receptors to be selected by JT and other targets to be agreed by Orphagen and JT. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We have had a long and successful history with the pharmaceutical division of JT and I am delighted to be able to expand our relationship with this leading organization,” said Scott Thacher, Orphagen’s President and CEO. “JTE-451, an RORγ antagonist, now being evaluated in human clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmune and allergic diseases, resulted from our first collaboration with Japan Tobacco. We look forward to additional success, in new programs, through our expanded collaboration with JT.”
About Orphagen:
Orphagen has a successful track record of identifying small molecules that modulate unexplored or “orphan” members of the nuclear receptor family. In many cases, including for RORg, Orphagen has been a first mover in ligand identification and in characterization in cellular and animal models for these unexplored targets. In addition to this and other collaborations for new drug discovery with pharmaceutical partners, Orphagen is also developing its own breakthrough therapies for cancer and inflammatory disease.
About JT:
JT is a leading international tobacco company. Its products are sold in over 130 countries. With diversified operations, JT is actively present in pharmaceuticals and processed foods. JT entered into the pharmaceutical business in 1987 and is currently engaged in the research and development of new drugs mainly in the fields of metabolic diseases, viral infection and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.
For more information, contact: Scott Thacher, (858) 481-6191