Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Nanotherapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutial company, have formed an agreement to provide Takeda with expanded commercialization and technology access rights related to Nanotherapeutics' Vero cell technology platform, a cell culture-based platform for vaccine production which Nanotherapeutics acquired from Baxalta, formerly Baxter International's BioScience Division. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In 2010, Takeda and Baxter entered into an agreement in which Takeda licensed from Baxter certain exclusive rights to the technology for the development of pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines for the Japanese market. Takeda's cell culture-based H5N1 and prototype vaccine for pandemic influenza was developed on this platform and was approved in Japan in March 2014. Takeda is currently developing a cell-based seasonal flu vaccine (TAK-850) on the same platform for use in Japan.

In December 2014, Baxter agreed to sell its proprietary Vero cell technology and related assets, including its production facility in Bohumil, Czech Republic, to Nanotherapeutics.The Vero cell platform is a cell-based technology for vaccine production. The agreement with Nanotherapeutics includes all assets related to the platform, including vaccines for H5N1, H1N1 and seasonal influenza. The agreement also includes investigational vaccine programs for Ross River virus, Chikungunya disease, and West Nile virus.

Takeda’s new agreement with Nanotherapeutics extinguishes Takeda's remaining financial obligations under the initial agreement with Baxter. Additionally, Takeda gains rights to commercialize its pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccine products, based on the Vero cell technology platform, in certain regions outside of Japan and will have access to Vero cell technology and reagents for the development of vaccines beyond influenza.

Nanotherapeutics, based in Alachua, Florida is an integrated biopharmaceutical company with a focus on development and manufacturing. The company has expertise in preclinical and clinical development, formulation optimization, and cGMP manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products and medical devices. About Vero cell technology

Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical