NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Takeda Pharmaceutical today announced it has signed a partnership with Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute to study the role of gene regulatory proteins as targets for the treatment of heart failure.
The partners will screen and develop molecules that may improve the metabolism and function of a damaged heart. Sanford-Burnham and Takeda scientists will collaborate to validate the targets and molecules with a goal of creating new treatments for heart failure.
New molecules to treat heart failure represent "a critical unmet medical need," Tetsuyuki Maruyama, head of Takeda pharmaceutical research, said in a statement.
In patients suffering from cardiovascular disease, the heart tissue loses its metabolic activity, becoming energy-starved. The aim of the partnership is to identify a molecule that could reactivate the heart, the partners said in a statement.
Takeda and Sanford-Burnham said that researchers will work with Sanford-Burnham's Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics to screen the institute’s library of compounds to find potentially effective molecules.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
This is the third research collaboration between Takeda and Sanford-Burnham in the last five years, the partners said. In 2010, the two partnered to find biomarkers for obesity-related treatments.