Taisho, headquartered in Tokyo, granted Lilly exclusive rights for development and commercialization of TS-021 worldwide except for Japan and China under a license agreement executed in July 2005.
Despite the termination of the licensing deal with Lilly, Taisho will continue development of TS-021 in Japan by itself, while the company’s US-based affiliate Taisho Pharmaceutical R&D will pursue development outside Japan.
A spokeswomen quoted by Reuters suggested that Taisho may seek an alternative partner for the development of the drug candidate in the future.
Taisho is the leading over-the-counter pharmaceutical company in Japan and is continuing its efforts to strengthen its prescription drug business. As an outcome of such efforts, Taisho has initiated clinical trials on several original new drugs.