EISAI AND KYORIN ENTER INTO AGREEMENT CONCERNING COMPOUND LIBRARY USE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ANTIBACTERIAL AGENTS

Eisai Co., Ltd.
KYORIN Holdings, Inc.

Eisai Co., Ltd. (CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Mitsutomo Miyashita, “Kyorin”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of KYORIN Holdings, Inc. (President and CEO: Masahiro Yamashita) announced today that they have entered into an agreement concerning the evaluation and use of Eisai's compound library, which includes natural products, by Kyorin with the aim of leveraging both companies' resources for the discovery of innovative new antibacterial agents.

Under this agreement, Eisai grants Kyorin the rights to evaluate the feasibility of developing compounds for the antibacterial field using the compound library owned by Eisai, and Eisai receives a certain lump-sum payment from Kyorin.

In addition, in case that a license agreement is concluded in the future based on the terms of this agreement, Kyorin will receive the exclusive rights to research, develop, manufacture and market a compound(s) as an antibacterial agent in Japan, and as a result, Kyorin will be in a position to expect to enhance its research and development pipeline. Furthermore, by out-licensing a compound(s) to Kyorin, who has rich experience and plenty of achievements in the antibacterial field, Eisai will be able to further utilize its resources for creating new drugs and maximize value.

The companies will contribute to satisfying various needs of patients receiving treatment for infectious diseases and their families by expediting the creation of innovative new antibacterial agents with the utilization of Eisai's compounds and Kyorin's strengths in the antibacterial field based on this contractual relationship.