Otsuka’s drug discovery research began in 1971 with only 14 scientists who had the idea of addressing the world’s unmet medical needs by investing in therapeutic areas that were under-served by other pharmaceutical companies. In Australia, we focus on several therapeutic areas including:
- CNS Disorders
- Nephrology
- Immunology
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) DISORDERS
Otsuka’s commitment to providing innovative solutions for central nervous system (CNS) disorders began more than 30 years ago when our researchers took the first steps in the creation of a drug that would eventually provide a new treatment option for people living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Globally, we are expanding our focus on other important diseases of the central nervous system, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, and major depressive disorder (MDD).
An important component of new drug development is to provide robust evidence of improvement on existing therapeutics and greater benefit to patient outcomes; something we are committed to.
Otsuka strives to be innovative when it comes to educating stakeholders in the management of mental health disorders. We use the phrase ‘beyond the pill’, meaning that we see medication as being just one part of the total care package that we offer to help people cope with the debilitating effects of mental health disorders.
NEPHROLOGY
Otsuka has always maintained a philosophy of developing and delivering drugs for diseases where there is an unmet medical need and this includes therapies in nephrology (the medical speciality that concerns the health of the kidneys). A current focus of our work in this area is autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD); the most common inherited kidney disease, characterised by expanding, fluid-filled cysts that gradually take over the kidney, impairing its function and often resulting in kidney failure. Otsuka is proud to have developed the first disease modifying medication for ADPKD.
IMMUNOGLOBULIN A NEPHROPATHY (IgAN)
Otsuka is working on a potential new treatment for IgA Nephropathy, also known as Berger’s disease. It is characterised by the accumulation in the kidneys of clumps of immune-complexes involving a type of antibody produced in white blood cells called Immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgA is important in normal immune function, but if its collection in the kidneys is uncontrolled, it leads to progressive kidney dysfunction and eventually kidney failure. This auto-immune disease which typically affects patients in their 20s-40s, is chronic and life-impacting.
Despite supportive care including therapies that focus on treating the symptoms of IgAN, there is a need for treatments that modify the progression of this disease.
Our investigational treatment is focused on preventing the over-production of IgA by B-cells (an important immune cell produced in the bone marrow), through targeting a protein that controls B-cell development called “A Proliferation-Inducing Ligand,” or “APRIL” for short.
IMMUNOLOGY
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare disease that involves frequent, spontaneous swelling of the skin at the extremities or on the face, or within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the throat/larynx. Oedema of the GI tract and larynx can cause abdominal pain and breathlessness, and in severe cases, may be life-threatening. It has an incidence of approximately 1:50,000, with the two main types of disease being characterised by a deficiency in the levels and/or function of a protein called C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH).
C1-INH has many functions, including regulating widening of the blood vessels (called vasodilation) via a small peptide hormone called bradykinin. If C1-INH is mutated, it can lead to over-active bradykinin and uncontrolled vasodilation, causing severe swelling. Otsuka is working to bring to Australian patients a new therapy that employs a novel technology to reduce the episodes of swelling in patients with HAE.
