Takeda Pharmaceutical (T:4502) just announced that it has teamed up with privately held Portal Instruments. Markets are relatively flat on the news, which isn’t overly surprising given the early stage of the program that's at the heart of the collaboration, but the long-term potential of the deal could be a real upside driver for Takeda if it materializes as the company hopes it will.
With this in mind, here's a look at the deal, what it means for Takeda and Portal and what to look out for going forward as indicative of successful maturation.
First, a quick introduction to the two companies. For most, Takeda likely doesn't need to be introduced. The company is a circa $45 billion biotechnology and healthcare behemoth headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Its portfolio of products is expansive and is broken down into three broad categories for the purposes of operational reporting – prescription drug, consumer and other.
Portal Instruments, on the other hand, is far less well known.
The company is a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup that has developed a handheld device that injects biologic medicines through a pressurized liquid rather than a needle. The needle was initially developed by a professor at MIT called Ian Hunter, who then founded the company on the back of this single invention and now serves as a board member.
This injection technology remains the company's primary asset and – unsurprisingly – it's the asset that underpins the collaboration between it and Takeda.
So what's involved?
Takeda wants to find out if it can use the technology that Portal has created to enhance the experience for patients that need to receive injections of (or, in some cases, self-inject) some of the biologics that the Japanese behemoth has in its portfolio.
The justification for this sort of alternative delivery is pretty simple. For many, having needles in the home is not desirable. Aside from the associated stigma around needle use, concerns include an innate dislike of needles, the inconvenience of disposing of needles and, safety around needle use which is especially worrisome when children live in the home. Some people also suffer from needle-phobia and even those that don’t generally experience some degree of elevated stress associated with needle-based administration.
If Portal can show that its device can achieve the same delivery goals as a needle, it has the potential to totally change the way certain biologics are delivered. Of course, Portal is privately held, so there's no direct exposure available to the technology right now.
And that's where Takeda comes into the equation.
The company could set itself aside from its peers in the self-injectable biologics space – we're talking versus companies like Merck (NYSE:MRK), Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) – if it can show that the device works. Whether there's any exclusivity associated with the arrangement isn’t clear, but at a glance, it looks like there isn’t. Takeda has paid an undisclosed upfront sum for rights to use the asset with its own portfolio and Portal is eligible to receive up to $100 million in future milestone payments if and when the injection technology proves viable with Takeda's biologics.
Going needle-free has long been a goal of the healthcare space but – as yet – the viscosity of certain biologics has made it difficult to achieve. With this MIT-born technology, Takeda and Portal could be taking the first steps towards a major shift in the global healthcare space.