6 January 2012 - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TYO:4502) said today it had established a three-year research partnership with Osaka University for vaccines containing nano-particles.

The joint research will focus on the development of a platform for the practical application and commercialisation of vaccines using hydrophobic poly (γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA) nano-particles as adjuvant.

It will bring together the company's recently established vaccine business division and the university's academic-industry collaboration research programme, dubbed Joint Research Chair.

The partnership will utilise the fundamental technology of nano-particles developed at Osaka University and Takeda's expertise in vaccine antigens, R&D platform, drug formulation technology, quality control/standardisation and patent administration.