Nissan Chemical Corporation and Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., two Japanese companies, announced on April 4 their agreement to co-develop SK-2407/SN-001, which is a pre-clinical antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) candidate identified through their collaboration for the treatment of Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) in Japan.
ASOs have emerged as a promising strategy for various neurodegenerative conditions, including DRPLA, by reducing the harmful levels of abnormal proteins that accumulate in cells.
Nissan Chemical Corporation and Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho have been working on joint drug discovery for an ASO for DRPLA since 2019. Under the agreement, Nissan Chemical will manufacture and provide the ASO, and Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho will conduct the pre-clinical and clinical studies. The two companies will also seek partners to develop it outside Japan. You can find the full press release here.
CureDRPLA will report updates on the development of this ASO for DRPLA as they become publicly available.