RaQualia announces clinical research collaboration with Chiba University Hospital
RaQualia Pharma Inc. (RaQualia) has entered into a clinical research collaboration agreement with Chiba University for exploratory clinical studies of RaQualia’s EP4 antagonist.
Under the agreement, RaQualia and Chiba University Hospital will collaborate on clinical studies for exploring efficacy of EP4 antagonist in autoimmune diseases and cancer.
RaQualia hopes that the collaboration with Chiba University Hospital, having many experienced researchers with expertise in clinical studies, will lead to an innovative new medicine originating from Japan.
【About EP4 antagonist】
EP4 antagonists selectively block the EP4 receptor, one of the four known prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptors. RaQualia is currently conducting research and development on two compounds, RQ-00000007 and RQ-00000008, for pain, autoimmune diseases and cancer therapeutics.
EP4 antagonists inhibit IL-23 production from dendritic cells and suppress expansion of Th17 cells, contributing to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. RQ-00000007 and RQ-00000008 are expected to be novel orally-available drugs with a new mechanism of action for autoimmune diseases. EP4 antagonists also show tumor growth inhibition in animal models of the lung and gastroenterological cancer. Anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic effects of EP4 antagonists have been reported, and expected not only to treat advanced disease setting of cancer but also to prevent recurrence of cancer after surgery. Further clinical studies may show EP4 antagonists have the potential to be a new category of therapies for cancer with much fewer side effects than currently available therapies.
####
