Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. recently announced the successful completion of an important preclinical goal in its partnerships with Astellas Pharma Inc.
The goal was achieved when it was discovered that selective modulation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) pathway in vitro could possibly treat multiple diseases that do not have current therapies available.
“We are very encouraged to reach this milestone so early in our collaboration with Astellas,” President and CEO of Proteostasis Therapeutics Meenu Chhabra said. “Demonstrating the value of the UPR pathway is an early positive signal in this collaboration with Astellas, and additionally, it provides yet another proof point supporting the broad applicability and power in our discovery platform as achieved through use of our proprietary Disease Relevant Translation and Proteostasis Network.”
SVP and Chief Strategy Officer of Astellas Kenji Yasukawa concurred.
“The achievement of this key preclinical milestone marks a transition point for our collaboration as it proves one of the basic scientific tenets underlying the program," he said. "We remain enthusiastic about the UPR as a very interesting and potentially important target for protein conformational diseases and expect to use that knowledge to deliver new therapeutic options to the clinic and, ultimately, to patients in need."
Under the agreement, Proteostasis Therapeutics is eligible for future research funding, development and commercial milestones, subject to the achievement of future milestones, which could result in total payments of more than $400 million.
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