SEOUL, Korea and OSAKA, Japan--LG Life Sciences, Ltd.(LGLS) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) today announced that both parties executed an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration agreement to discover, develop and commercialize anti-obesity drugs.

This collaboration is based on LGLS's obesity program, and both companies will be contributing scientific expertise in this research collaboration. LGLS will deploy its capabilities in drug discovery including medicinal chemistry research and pharmacological evaluation, while Takeda will be responsible for conducting subsequent research, development and commercialization.

Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda will be granted an exclusive right to the compounds to be selected by Takeda for worldwide market except Korea and Vietnam, and a semi-exclusive right for India. LGLS　will receive an upfront payment and research funding, and also milestone payments for certain progress of research, development and commercialization, exceeding US$100 million in total, and also royalty payments on product sales once the compounds from the collaboration are commercialized. Other financial terms are not disclosed.

"We are very much pleased to work with Takeda on this collaboration, as we're placing more focus on the metabolic disease as our key therapeutic area. We believe Takeda's strong capabilities and global presence in this field will maximize the potential of our obesity program", said In-Chull Kim, President and CEO of LGLS.

"We are very much pleased with this agreement and the start of the joint research program", said Yasuchika Hasegawa, President of Takeda. "One of our core therapeutic areas for R&D is anti-atherosclerosis related diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and we are focusing on the successful launch of anti-obesity, which is centered among these diseases, through in-house research and also the alliance and in-licensing. We expect that this collaboration with LGLS will accelerate our strategies for this therapeutic area".