PRISM BioLab, Co. Ltd. ("PRISM"), a leading discovery and development biotechnology company designing small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets, today announced that it has entered into a target-exclusive research and licensing agreement with ONO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. ("Ono ").

Under the terms of the agreement, Ono and PRISM will jointly create a development candidate for Ono's oncology target using PepMetics^® technology. Upon identification of the development candidate, PRISM will license its rights to Ono for clinical development and commercialization. The deal includes upfront payments, pre-clinical, clinical and commercialization success-based milestones, royalties on future net sales, and other terms. Specific financial terms are not disclosed.

"We highly appreciate PRISM's PepMetics^® technology in PPI drug discovery", said Seishi Katsumata, Executive Director, Discovery & Research of Ono. "Through this drug discovery collaboration, we are excited to work with PRISM to identify and develop novel small molecule drugs for therapeutic targets that had been previously difficult to modulate with a small molecule, leading to further expansion of our development pipeline to address unmet medical needs across a broad range of diseases."

"We are very excited to enter into this collaboration with Ono who has a history of creating innovative drugs. ", said Dai Takehara, President & CEO of PRISM Biolab. "We believe that our PepMetics^® technology will change the current paradigm in drug discovery by turning previously undruggable PPIs into targets readily druggable with small molecules. Through close collaboration between creative scientists of both companies, we expect to generate innovative and game-changing drugs for the benefit of patients."