Tanabe, Anaphore Enter Autoimmune R&D Pact

Tanabe Research Laboratories, Inc. (TRL) has entered into a partnership with Anaphore, Inc. for the research and preclinical development of novel protein therapies for autoimmune diseases based on Anaphore’s Atrimer technology.

The two companies will generate novel trivalent proteins called Atrimers that can be programmed to bind to and activate or inhibit targets of interest. The partnership will focus developing biologic therapies for such autoimmune disorders as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis. TRL’s parent company, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, will be responsible for late stage development and commercialization of lead products.