Billionaire Platt-Backed Engitix Inks Takeda Partnership

(Bloomberg) -- U.K.-based biotech firm Engitix Ltd. and Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. have agreed to extend their existing partnership in a deal could be valued at as much as $300 million.

Engitix, whose backers include billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Platt, will work with Takeda to jointly develop novel therapeutics for fibrostenotic inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News.

As part of the new agreement, Takeda will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize some clinical candidates while using Engitix’s extracellular matrix (ECM) discovery platform.

“We are delighted that based on positive progress in our existing R&D partnership in liver diseases, Takeda has extended the scope of the drug discovery collaboration to now include fibrostenotic IBD,” Engitix Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Giuseppe Mazza said in the statement. 

“It underlines the value they see in using our ECM platform and the successful co-operation we have established,” Mazza added.

Engitix is poised to receive payments both upfront and later on as they achieve certain targets. The total value could reach as much as about $300 million based on the achievement of milestones as well as royalties on any future sales.

Earlier this year, the company raised $54 million in a series A funding round led by Netherton Investments, a fund allocating on behalf of Platt, and Italy-based Dompe Farmaceutici SpA. Engitix and Dompe also agreed to collaborate on new treatments for fibrosis and liver-associated solid tumors.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.