JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. announced that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. decided to discontinue their collaboration with JCR to develop gene therapies using adeno-associated viruses (AAV) combined with the JCR J-Brain Cargo® Technology. Under the agreement signed on March 28, 2022, JCR and Takeda collaborated on the research and development of AAV-mediated gene therapies that apply JCR's J-Brain Cargo® technology. In March 2023, JCR received a preclinical proof-of-concept milestone payment for confirming that the technology is able to accomplish therapeutically relevant effects in the brain of a murine disease model.

The discontinuation is due to the change in Takeda's previously announced Research & Development (R&D) strategy to discontinue R&D on AAV-mediated gene therapy approaches. With the termination of the agreement, the results and patents have been returned to JCR. Following termination of the agreement, JCR plans to continue its own research efforts as well as engage with other companies on the application of the J-Brain Cargo® platform technology to gene therapies.

This termination is expected to have a minor impact on its consolidated financial results for this fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024.