Singapore: Japanese drug giant Takeda has joined hands with the National Cancer Center (NCC), Japan, to discover and develop novel cancer therapies and anti-cancer interventions.

As per the deal, Takeda and NCC will contribute to the development of basic research including studies on pathogenesis and drug susceptibility of cancer by promoting exchanges among researchers, physicians, and others engaged in anti-cancer drug discovery and cancer biology research.

"Takeda is so pleased to partner with the NCC," said, Mr Michael Vasconcelles, MD, head, Oncology Therapeutic Area Unit,Takeda. "By leveraging NCC's clinical research with Takeda's technology infrastructure and tools for drug discovery, we hope that together we can have greater impact in a shorter amount of time to bring innovative treatments to the oncology community."

In addition, to further deepen their cooperation, Takeda has also participated in the national academic-industrial collaboration genomic screening project "SCRUM-Japan" led by the NCC. SCRUM-Japan involves nation-wide medical institutions and pharma companies to collaborate and screen oncogene abnormalities.

Through access of the genetic and medical information database generated by this project, Takeda and NCC aim to accelerate the research and development of new medicines.

"NCC is expecting a lot to be newly created by exchanging an agreement for the partnership with Takeda," said, Mr Hitoshi Nakagama, MD, director, National Cancer Center Research Institute. "By sharing bio-resources, including various types of cancer cell lines and animal models, biological and biochemical techniques for functional screenings, and huge amounts of clinical materials attached with detailed pathological and clinical information, further acceleration for development of Japan-oriented novel medicine and diagnostics is expected to be promptly achieved."