Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners, Inc. (HQ: Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan; hereinafter referred to as “Axcelead DDP”) announced on September 10 that it had entered into a Master Service Agreement with Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (HQ: San Diego, CA, USA; hereinafter referred to as “Acadia”) to support their goal of discovering and developing innovative and novel medicines to help address unmet medical needs.

Axcelead DDP has already been engaged in multiple drug discovery projects in the neuroscience area to identify candidate compounds since October 2022. Acadia and Axcelead DDP have entered into the Master Service Agreement so that Axcelead DDP can more efficiently and comprehensively support certain new drug discovery projects of Acadia. Axcelead DDP will provide drug discovery support to Acadia by leveraging its integrated drug discovery platform, deep knowledge and extensive experience in drug discovery research to potentially generate high-quality candidate compounds.

A new drug discovery project under the executed MSA has been launched at the same time. Axcelead DDP will receive an upfront fee, research funding and milestone fees as in the previous projects. Details of the financial terms regarding the Master Service Agreement and the new project are not disclosed.

“We are pleased to announce the start of the new drug discovery project and the signing of the Master Service Agreement to contribute to Acadia's drug discovery research efforts. Our strong progress to date has led to the execution of this Master Service Agreement,” said Kengo Okada, PhD., Representative Director and CEO of Axcelead DDP. “We look forward to working with Acadia to expand their drug pipeline with the goal to bring innovative medicines to patients suffering from CNS diseases and other diseases as soon as possible.”

Axcelead DDP is Japan’s first drug discovery solution provider established in July 2017 by inheriting the drug discovery platform from Takeda Pharmaceutical. Screening, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology/biology, DMPK, and safety research functions are integrated into one center with a state-of-the-art research base and original compound library. Together with the most advanced AI capability integration to Axcelead DDP’s service, Axcelead DDP is to create high quality drug candidates rapidly. By leveraging these strengths, Axcelead DDP provides solutions to various challenges faced in the process from exploratory research to clinical in drug discovery