Japanese company Eisai has entered an exclusive global licensing agreement with CORE Biomedicine for several preclinical oncology programmes.
The deal grants CORE Biomedicine rights to develop and commercialise a portfolio of cancer therapies originally discovered by Eisai and its affiliates.
The licensed assets focus on targeting key molecular drivers implicated in a range of cancers. The portfolio includes multiple programmes covering different targets and biological pathways.
CORE Biomedicine plans to use these assets to support its precision medicine strategy and aims to develop therapies for a broader set of cancer patients.
The company uses a lineage-based approach intended to identify and target oncology drivers beyond genomics, seeking to enable the discovery of therapies for wider patient populations.
CORE Biomedicine co-founder and business development head Dr Douglas McMillin said: “CORE was created to advance an exceptional portfolio of oncology programmes grounded in deep cancer biology, precision medicine and lineage therapeutics.
“We believe these programmes have tremendous potential to address significant unmet medical needs across multiple cancers, and we are committed to advancing them efficiently toward the clinic and ultimately to patients.”
In a separate development, CORE Biomedicine completed a $21m Series A funding round co-led by Elikon Venture and UTokyo Innovation Platform, with involvement from CD Capital, InnoPinnacle Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Root Venture Partners, Suzhou Capital Group, Vision Incubate, and YuanBio Venture Capital.
These funds are intended to support the advancement of the company’s lead programmes from discovery to early clinical development.
Additionally, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, CORE Biomedicine Japan, received a grant through the Strengthening Program for Pharmaceutical Startup Ecosystem, a scheme run by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).
This initiative is aimed at accelerating research and development activities and fostering collaborations within Japan’s biopharmaceutical sector.
