Numab Therapeutics and Kaken Pharmaceutical Announce Licensing and Co-development Agreement for Multispecific Antibody NM81 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Kaken Pharmaceutical in-licenses NM81 across select Asian territories and commits to funding global development into the clinic

HORGEN, Switzerland and TOKYO, Nov. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Numab Therapeutics AG(“Numab”), a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary pipeline of multispecific antibodies in immunology and oncology, and Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Kaken”), an R&D driven pharmaceutical company in Japan, today announced a strategic licensing and co-development agreement for NM81, a potential first-in-class multispecific antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Kaken has exercised its option to acquire commercial rights to NM81 for certain Asian territories, originating from a research collaboration signed in November 2024. Under the terms of the new agreement, Numab and Kaken will jointly advance NM81 through clinical proof of concept with Kaken funding preclinical and clinical development. Additionally, upon the success of products resulting from the alliance, Kaken is eligible to receive certain payments from Numab based on the R&D development funded by Kaken.

“We are excited to deepen our collaboration with Kaken as we progress NM81,” said Angehrn Pavik, CEO of Numab. “This new partnership reflects our vision to collaborate and advance transformative multispecific therapies leveraging our proprietary λ-Cap^TM and MATCH^TM technology platforms”.

“We are proud to expand our partnership with Numab to progress the development of NM81 into the preclinical and clinical phases for the treatment of IBD. By combining Kaken’s development capabilities with Numab’s cutting-edge multi-specific antibody expertise, we aim to accelerate our research and development efforts toward delivering innovative therapies that address the unmet medical needs of patients living with IBD,” said Hiroyuki Horiuchi, President and Representative Director of Kaken.

AboutNumabTherapeutics AG
Numab Therapeutics AG is developing multispecific antibody-based immunotherapies for inflammation, cancer and diseases with high unmet need. Reproducible plug-and-play therapeutic design process using proprietary platforms λ-Cap^TM and MATCH^TM puts Numab in a unique position to overcome historical drug discovery barriers in multispecific biologics and build a pipeline of new and important medicines aimed to maximize patient benefits. Numab’s diverse research pipeline spans multiple therapeutic areas and creates the opportunity for the next generation of first-in-class and best-in-class medicines. For further information, visit https://www.numab.com.

About Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is an R&D driven pharmaceutical company, established in 1948, and its corporate philosophy is to help improve the quality of life of patients by serving as many people as possible to return smiles of happiness to their faces, through supplying superior pharmaceuticals. Recently, in line with the VISION outlined in the “Long-Term Business Plan 2031,” Kaken is striving to utilize its own research base, take on the challenge of new modalities, and continuously launch innovative drugs. For more information, please visit https://www.kaken.co.jp/english.

For further details, please contact:

Numab Therapeutics
Barbara Angehrn Pavik
Chief Executive Officer
b.angehrn@numab.com

Numab Investor Contact
Victoria Igumnova
Meru Advisors
vigumnova@meruadvisors.com

Kaken Pharmaceutical
Corporate Communications
https://www.kaken.co.jp/english/contact/