Chugai to set up new drug discovery venture

Forerunner Pharma Research Company (FPR) is set to commence operations from April 22, 2005. Established as a solution to meet the need, FPR, based in the Komaba Open Laboratory of University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), is expected to deliver the ability to conduct innovative drug exploratory by integrating Chugai’s drug development technologies with the state-of-the-art knowledge and information accumulated in universities and other research institutes.

In 2002, Chugai, Mitsui, and CIEA established a joint venture called PharmaLogicals Research Pte. in Singapore and have been promoting research programs through setting up of new genome-based drug discovery system for the efficient generation of therapeutic antibodies by obtaining pathological and genomic information from disease and genetic analysis.

FPR will utilize research outcomes in pathological proteomics accumulated by PharmaLogicals, and further develop organized and collaborative research with RCAST and other institutes, in order to conduct concrete drug candidate screening and discovery research.

Positioning FPR as a new research center for genome-based drug discovery, as well as a new business-academia collaboration model following the transformation of national universities into independent corporations, Chugai seeks to build an organic research network in which the participating entities can generate new value.

Chugai has been establishing its business structure to become a leading domestic pharmaceutical company with global management infrastructure, as an important member of the Roche Group since October 2002. With the establishment of FPR, Chugai expects to improve its ability to search new drugs. The company said it would pursue the discovery of therapeutic antibodies or molecular targeting drugs with small molecules for disease fields such as oncology and lifestyle-related diseases.