Ono Pharmaceutical has entered into an agreement to expand the drug discovery collaboration agreement with Congruence Therapeutics for the discovery of novel small molecule modulators against multiple protein targets in the areas of neurology and immunology.

In December 2024, we entered into an option-type drug discovery collaboration agreement with Congruence, utilising their proprietary Revenir drug discovery platform to generate small molecule drug candidates in the field of oncology. The new agreement aims to create small molecule modulators in therapeutic areas distinct from the previous agreement. As with the prior agreement, under this new collaboration, Congruence will generate small molecule drug candidates targeting different proteins in the areas of neurology and immunology, respectively.

“Congruence’s advanced computational discovery engine is attracting growing global attention with its lead programme entering clinical development. We are honoured that our ongoing collaboration with Congruence is expanding beyond oncology to other priority areas including both neurology and immunology. Through this partnership, we will be committed to accelerating the drug development so that we can deliver innovative new medicines to patients with unmet medical needs as quickly as possible,” said Seishi Katsumata, Corporate Officer / Executive Director, Discovery and Research, Ono.

Ono will obtain exclusive worldwide option rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise the selected small molecule drug candidates generated by Congruence. Under the terms of this agreement, Ono will pay Congruence an upfront payment, research funding and milestone payments based on research, development and commercialisation progress, as well as tiered royalties on net sales after product launch.

 “We are excited to expand our partnership with Ono, a global pioneer of innovative medicines. The expansion is a testament to the significant contributions we have made in our existing collaboration as well as the trust and confidence we continue to build with Ono. We look forward to leveraging the complementary strengths of both organisations to advance important research for the benefit of patients,” said Sharath Hegde PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Congruence.