Otsuka takes Shape to develop ocular gene therapies

Japanese giant Otsuka and US biotech Shape Therapeutics will collaborate to develop intravitreally-delivered adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) for ocular diseases, with options to add additional targets and tissue types.

Under the terms of the deal, Shape will receive an initial undisclosed payment from Otsuka and could potentially receive development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments exceeding $1.5 billion, plus royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

Shape’s contribution comes in the form of its inhouse capsid discovery platform and engineering technology.

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The AI-driven AAVid platform used by Shape screens billions of AAV variants and uses machine learning to identify AAV capsids for in vivo selection in order to maximise clinical translation, reducing the required dose, and clinical safety risks.

“By incorporating diffusion models, our platform is designing novel medicines that transcend the boundaries of what is possible experimentally. Our collaboration with Otsuka marks an exciting chapter in our journey as we extend the reach and impact of our technologies to help as many patients as possible,” says Francois Vigneault, CEO of Shape.

Otsuka will bring to the table its expertise in genetic payload design and manufacturing power.

Toshiki Sudo, head of Osaka Research Center for Drug Discovery at Otsuka Pharmaceutical, comments: “Otsuka has drug discovery expertise in a broad range of therapeutic areas including central nervous systems (CNS), nephrology and ophthalmology.

“Our recent research activities have led to identification of target molecules and antibodies for specific ocular diseases of interest with high unmet medical needs. Our collaboration with ShapeTX aims to enable delivery of vectorized antibody drugs in combination with AAV, in order to target specific disease cell types in the eye and provide a once-in-a-lifetime and curative administration with stable lifetime expression.”

The Japanese pharma giant has two separate core businesses, a nutraceutical and a pharmaceutical one. Within Japan, the company has eight plants but it also counts 37 companies in 14 countries across the globe, racking up 121 facilities in total.