AnGes MG, Inc, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, and Seikagaku Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, announced that they have agreed to end their joint development program of NF-kappa B (NFkB) decoy-oligonucleotide-based intraarticular injection for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). AnGes MG intends to continue the development of the program.

AnGes obtained an exclusive worldwide license to develop NFkB decoys as a treatment for disc degeneration from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, following a collaboration with Rush during which they conducted efficacy studies to evaluate the NFkB decoy's effect in disc degeneration. The collaboration culminated in the filing of a joint patent application.

AnGes has an ongoing phase I clinical trial of NFkB decoy oligo in Japan for atopic dermatitis, an NFkB decoy oligo IND in preparation for RA, and NFkB decoy oligo preclinical programs in psoriasis and OA. Recently, AnGes reported that the Hosokawa Powder Technology Research Institute, a subsidiary of Hosokawa Micron of Tokyo, Japan, achieved the encapsulating of the NFkB decoy oligo within biocompatible and bioabsorbable surface-modified polylactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles.

—A. Techman