Around 10 million people globally live with the life-threatening human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1), yet it remains a poorly understood disease that currently has no preventative treatments and no cure. That could soon change after Australian researchers discovered that existing HIV drugs can suppress transmission of the HTLV-1 virus in mice.

Gate Bioscience Inc. has entered a collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Co. to discover, develop and commercialize molecular gate therapeutics. The collaboration will leverage Gate’s molecular gate drug discovery engine to identify molecular gates capable of eliminating specific difficult-to-drug proteins.

Matchpoint Therapeutics Inc. and Novartis AG have entered into an exclusive option and license agreement to develop and commercialize oral covalent inhibitors targeting a transcription factor linked to a number of inflammatory diseases. Matchpoint’s approach leverages the properties of covalent chemistry and a proprietary platform to target a novel binding site on a historically hard-to-drug protein.

Opus Genetics Inc. has entered a strategic partnership with the Global RDH12 Alliance to advance Opus’ gene therapy program for patients with vision loss due to retinol dehydrogenase 12 (RDH12) gene mutations.

Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have entered a collaboration, option and license agreement to develop a novel therapeutic candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., Veneno Technologies Co. Ltd. and Alpha Fusion Co. Ltd. have initiated a joint research collaboration in Japan to develop cancer drugs using targeted alpha therapy (TAT).

Qanatpharma AG (QP), Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), Enamine Ltd. and Proteros biostructures GmbH have announced the launch of a research collaboration to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutics targeting cerebral perfusion deficits associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Gero Pte Ltd. have entered into a joint research and license agreement to develop novel therapies for age-related diseases. Chugai will create novel antibody-drug candidates for new drug targets discovered by Gero using its AI target discovery platform.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG has selected a third oncology drug candidate to advance into IND-enabling studies under its ongoing collaboration with Oxford Biotherapeutics Ltd.