HiFiBiO Therapeutics is aspiring to work on antibody therapies for different gastrointestinal diseases, cancers and other disorders by signing a pact with Japanese Pharma and biotech company Takeda.

Takeda will extend its R&D, milestones and royalty payments to HiFiBiO, which develops antibodies through single-B-cell screening and analysis, in exchange of antibodies it receives for development and sales. However, both refuse to disclose its total worth.  

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company received a $37.5 million series B round funding, after its 2017 management change witnessing the appointment of a new president and CEO, Liang Schweizer, Ph.D., who had assumed management positions in cancer research at Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb earlier.

CelliGO, the company’s medicine innovating division aims to produce therapeutic antibodies and immune system modulators via single-B-cell screening, phenotyping and analysis.

Both companies announced a collaboration of their scientists to discover antibodies against Takeda’s targets implementing HiFiBiO Therapeutics’ single-cell screening capacities. The preclinical and clinical development of the discovered antibodies will be dealt by Takeda.

“Takeda is a world leader in oncology, gastroenterology and neuroscience therapeutics,” said Schweizer.

“This multi-target partnership further validates our ongoing commitment to these types of open-innovation collaborations to better address unmet medical needs around the world.”