Astellas Pharma Inc. and Pantherna Therapeutics GmbH announced that the companies have entered into a new technology evaluation agreement for research to generate mRNA-based regenerative medicine programs using direct reprogramming (transdifferentiation). This agreement expands the scope of the technology evaluation agreement for research, which Astellas and Pantherna entered into in 2021, to include new target organ. Pantherna owns a proprietary platform of state-of-the-art, unique mRNA molecules (PTXmRNAs) for enhancing the efficiency of mRNA actions in the body.

Under the new agreement, Pantherna's mRNA platform and Astellas' world-class drug discovery capabilities will be combined to promote research on the generation of regenerative medicine programs for new target organ using a direct reprogramming approach. Astellas will be responsible for providing drug discovery ideas, preparing candidate compounds for technology evaluation, and performing research aimed at developing this therapeutic modality, while Pantherna will be responsible for providing technical information and development support.