Ono Pharmaceutical Industry has concluded a partnership agreement with Neurimmune Holding, Inc. of Switzerland for discovering novel antibody medicine targeted for neurodegenerative diseases and create human monoclonal antibodies against drug discovery targets selected by Ono. Neurimmune is a bio venture founded in 2006 as a spin-off from the University of Zurich. Neurimmune’s Reverse Translational Medicine (RTM) is a proprietary high-speed screening method for human antibodies targeting pathogenic proteins such as amyloid β, tau protein found in Alzheimer’s disease, α-synuclein of Parkinson’s disease etc.. The RTM technology targets pathologically aggregated proteins, that is, proteins that are misfolded, and minimizes side effects since it does not affect folding of normal proteins that retain biological functions, whereas the pathogenic protein loses normal protein function, aggregates without being decomposed and deposits on tissues and organs. In RTM technology, antibodies are screened by maximum target affinity and by human immune response, providing high efficacy and safety. Ono will be exclusievely responsible for worldwide development and marketing of products.

Ono Pharmaceutical news release, November 9, 2017