Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (Otsuka) announces that the company and its U.K.-based subsidiary Astex Pharmaceuticals (UK) (Astex) are to pursue collaborative drug discovery research in the area of central nervous system (CNS) diseases with Schrödinger, Inc. (Schrödinger). This research will leverage Schrödinger's leading physics-based computational platform at scale with Otsuka and Astex's extensive knowledge and expertise in structural biology, inclusive of the field of central nervous system diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, Schrödinger will be responsible for drug design through lead optimization and Otsuka will be responsible for all other drug discovery and clinical development activities, with the aim of rapidly expanding Otsuka's R&D pipeline. Schrödinger will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive discovery, development and regulatory milestones, as well as tiered royalties on net sales of any products emerging from the collaboration in all markets.

"Otsuka has been one of our software customers for over 10 years and has a proven track record in neurology," stated Ramy Farid, chief executive officer of Schrödinger. "We are pleased to expand our relationship through this collaboration by deploying our technology at scale. As part of this collaboration, this transfer of knowledge can help accelerate Otsuka's broad adoption of Schrödinger's platform within their new digital drug discovery center, further supporting Otsuka's goal of accelerating drug discovery and bringing novel therapeutics to patients worldwide."

Toshiki Sudo, executive director, Research at Otsuka Pharmaceutical and head of the Osaka Research Center for Drug Discovery, commented, "Otsuka continues to take on the challenge of developing innovative products with original ideas and technologies in order to contribute to the health of people around the world. We are committed to solving unmet medical needs through the creation of innovative drugs by combining our drug discovery capabilities and extensive experience in drug discovery with Schrödinger's digital drug discovery technology and our structural analysis technology using cryo-electron microscopes."

Harren Jhoti, president and CEO of Astex Pharmaceuticals (UK), said, "Astex is delighted to engage our colleagues in Otsuka in this important new drug discovery collaboration with Schrödinger by contributing our expertise in applying novel cryo-electron microscopy methodology to inform structure-based drug design."

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