Anchor Therapeutics, a developer of pepducin technology, has entered into a collaborative agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin (KHK), a Japanese biopharmaceutical company, to advance KHK’s internal G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drug discovery portfolio.

The agreement takes advantage of Anchor’s expanded business strategy to offer its pepducin technology for use as in vitroand in vivo research tools, in addition to developing pepducin therapeutics.

Anchor and KHK will work jointly to discover and optimize pepducin research tools to further the molecular understanding of certain GPCR targets in the KHK portfolio. KHK will assume responsibility for application of the research tools against the targets. Anchor will receive an upfront payment, research funding, and downstream milestones.

“We are excited about this initial application of the pepducin technology as research tools and believe that this agreement will provide KHK with a unique perspective to better evaluate their GPCR targets and advance their internal drug discovery efforts,” said Thomas J. McMurry, interim president and senior vice president, R&D, Anchor Therapeutics. “The licensing of pepducin technology as a research tool is a fundamental component of our business strategy, and we are actively pursuing other collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research institutions.”