Preclinical deal with StrideBio will investigate gene therapy candidates for the treatment of neurological diseases.

 Takeda is investing in next-generation therapeutics and recently announced a collaboration with Durham, NC–based StrideBio on the development of therapy candidates for the treatment of neurological diseases.

StrideBio will receive an up-front payment of $30 million from Takeda and has the potential to earn an additional nearly $700 million in milestone payments, to leverage its expertise in adeno-associated viral (AAV) capsid development for the generation of candidate therapies. Takeda will perform the clinical development and commercialization of any successful leads, while StrideBio will be responsible for their manufacture. The collaboration will focus on three targets, but the companies have only revealed one: Friedreich’s ataxia (FA).

According to Emiliangelo Ratti, head of Takeda’s neuroscience therapeutic unit, the collaboration is a “natural extension” of the company’s neuroscience research and development strategy, which includes “modality diversification, identifying targets with a high degree of association with disease, and a focus on developing innovative medicines for neurologic diseases that have a high unmet medical need.”