TOKYO – Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. is making progress in the oncology field, a key sector for social well-being as the global population grows older.

"The oncology pipeline of Daiichi Sankyo continues to grow and currently includes more than 20 small molecules and monoclonal antibodies with novel targets in both solid and hematological cancers," company official Jennifer Brennan told BioWorld Today.

Daiichi Sankyo has also entered a strategic collaboration with Agonox Inc., a privately held American biotech company that has previously partnered with Medimmune LLC, the global biologics arm of London-based Astrazeneca plc, on its OX40 agonist.

Agonox will collaborate with the Japanese company on the development of an undisclosed immuno-oncology target as part of the U.S. firm's efforts to create a pipeline of immunotherapy drugs that target key regulators of the immune response to cancer.

"While this collaboration will help strengthen our immuno-oncology capabilities, it also aligns with our overall mission of discovering and delivering science that can change the standard of care for patients with cancer," said Antoine Yver, global head of oncology research and development at Daiichi Sankyo.

If preclinical development of the immuno-oncology target is successful, Daiichi Sankyo will have the exclusive option for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the drug globally. The company declined to give any information on a time frame for getting the drug into clinical development.

In a separate announcement, however, Daiichi Sankyo said DS-8201a, a novel HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate that has shown potential for treating breast cancer, gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, was well-tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities. The company will now send the drug into the second part of its phase I trial.

"These preliminary results are compelling and warrant further clinical evaluation of DS-8201a in several different patient populations expressing HER2," said Yver.

"While the results of this study provide important preliminary proof of concept for the novel mechanism of the action of DS-8201a, additional research will be needed to further confirm these findings," added Jose Baselga, physician-in-chief and chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

Brennan pointed out that DS8201a is one of multiple drugs the company has in its pipeline for treating cancer.

"Compounds in phase III development include quizartinib, an oral FLT3-ITD inhibitor for newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory FLT3-ITD-positive acute myeloid leukemia; pexidartinib, an oral CSF-1R inhibitor for tenosynovial giant cell tumor, also known as pigmented villonodular synovitis and giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath, which is also being investigated in combination with anti-PD1 immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, in a range of solid tumors; and tivantinib, an oral MET inhibitor for second-line treatment in patients with MET-high hepatocellular carcinoma, in partnership with Arqule Inc.," she said.

Daiichi Sankyo, like many Japanese companies, faces the troubling issue of a shrinking market at home as the nation rapidly turns grayer. While there is more need for medicine, there is also less money to fund research and development as social security costs rise.

"One of the hardest things is health care," said Nancy Morrow-Howell, director of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at Washington University in St. Louis. "Health care has become such a problem because we have to live a long time with chronic conditions. Health care costs so much because we're living longer with chronic conditions."

Japan will be at the front line of such conditions.

"Based on the results of the medium-fertility projection, Japan is expected to enter a long period of population decline. The population is expected to decrease to around 116.62 million by 2030, fall below 100 million to 99.13 million in 2048, and drop to 86.74 million by 2060," the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research wrote in a report.

Koji Ogawara, at Daiichi Sankyo's Japan office, said his company, like most in Japan, would not comment on the government's drug pricing policies. However, he acknowledged that the nation's shrinking population has led the company to look for new strategies for the future.

"One of our visions is to have enriched regional value products aligned with regional markets, including in developing nations," he said.

"We are expanding our business in developing nations [and regions] such as China, Brazil and Southeast Asia, etc., by providing olmesartan, [an] anti-hypertension [treatment] and edoxaban, an oral anticoagulant, etc., which are medicines for lifestyle diseases," Ogawara added.

Daiichi Sankyo shares (TYO:4568), which ended last week at ¥2,454.5 (US$23.82), closed Tuesday at ¥2,493.