HemoShear Therapeutics LLC, a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company, has signed a research collaboration and service agreement with Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, it was reported on Wednesday.

According to the terms of the contract, HemoShear will receive an upfront payment and funding to produce a new human tissue-based model of a rare liver disease using the company's REVEAL-Tx Platform. The platform integrates physiological and computational models of disease to identify novel treatment approaches and select drug candidates in a human-relevant disease context. HemoShear has a successful ongoing three-year collaboration with Takeda to discover and develop novel therapeutics for liver diseases, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Brian Wamhoff, PhD, chief operating officer and head of innovation, HemoShear, said, 'We are excited to expand our collaboration with Takeda into modelling rare liver diseases. Our unique ability to recreate models of complex rare diseases will enable Takeda to interrogate their drug targets in the genetic background of human disease and select lead candidates in an accelerated timeframe.'