On May 8, 2019 Curadev announced it has licensed its novel lead small molecule Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) agonist (referred to by Curadev as CRD5500) and associated patents to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) (Press release, Takeda, MAY 8, 2019, View Source [SID1234538087]). The financial terms were not disclosed.

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"Our drug discovery efforts have targeted fundamental host immune mechanisms to stimulate anti-tumor immunity," said Curadev Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Arjun Surya, Ph.D. "With its commitment to pursuing novel immuno-oncology targets, Takeda is an ideal partner to collaborate on the further development of a STING agonist that is potential first-in-class small molecule."

A poster presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (LB-061: "CRD5500: a versatile small molecule STING agonist amenable to bioconjugation as an ADC") reported that the Curadev STING agonist potently activates all major known human STING variants and activates the immune system to shrink distant tumors and combines well with anti-PD-L1/anti-CTLA4/IDO-TDOi when dosed IT or systematically. It also demonstrated that the molecule has a long tumor residence time, good drug like properties, can be dosed by multiple routes, and has been successfully conjugated with trastuzumab.

"We look forward to collaborating with Curadev to further develop this novel STING agonist," said Chris Arendt, Head Oncology Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda. "This project is an example of Takeda’s commitment to collaborating with world-class partners like Curadev to pursue novel immuno-oncology targets that may one day deliver transformational benefit to patients."