- For Print
- May 26, 2014
Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) announced that its research and development subsidiary KAN Research Institute, Inc. (Headquarters: Hyogo Prefecture, President & CEO: Toshio Imai, “KRI”) held a dedication ceremony today for its new research facility in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, and has now officially commenced full-scale operation of its research and development activities at this facility.
KRI is a research group that aims to discover and develop new drugs based on novel therapeutic concepts as a unit of Eisai Product Creation Systems. Specifically, KRI is dedicated to conducting discovery research based on the concept of “Integrative Cell Biology for Medicine” in its three areas of therapeutic focus - refractory immune diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer relapse and metastasis, and aims to discover and develop biologic therapies such as antibodies. Having received official approval from the city of Kobe to take part in a special international strategic development project being implemented within the Kansai International Strategic Innovation Zone, KRI has taken this opportunity to relocate to a new research facility within the Zone in order to strengthen its research capabilities and increase the scale of its research.
The new research facility, located within the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, has a total floor space of approximately 12,000m2, or roughly five times that of its previous premises, with the capacity to house around 100 researchers, more than twice the present number. With the laboratory specifications allowing for the future installation of an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) production facility and collaborative lab spaces for external academic and medical researchers, the new research facility has strengthened KRI's antibody research capability while further promoting its open innovation initiatives with external partnerships, one of the core strategies of KRI. These key features of the KRI's new research facility will also contribute to the acceleration of the product creation activities of Eisai as a whole, incorporating state-of-the-art technologies such as those using antibodies and iPS cells into its research. Furthermore, the facility is designed to support business contingency plans in case of a crisis, as it is built using seismic isolation construction methods and is equipped with an emergency electricity generator that can run for up to 72 hours.
With the commencement of full-scale operation at KRI's new facility, Eisai will continue to leverage the advantages established within the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, one of Japan's largest bioclusters, and partnerships with academic and medical researchers, thereby making further efforts to create new innovative products that increase benefits to patients.
[ Please refer to the following notes for the photograph of the facility exterior, information on KAN Research Institute, Inc., and the Kansai International Strategic Innovation Zone. ]
< Notes to editors >
1. Photograph of KAN Research Institute, Inc.'s New Research Facility Exterior
2. About KAN Research Institute, Inc.
KAN Research Institute, Inc. is a 100% wholly owned research and development subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd. It is a research group that aims to discover and develop new drugs based on novel therapeutic concepts within Eisai's research and development system called Eisai Product Creation Systems. Initially established with its strengths in Integrative Cell Biology for Medicine, KRI undertakes drug discovery and research activities that seek to find novel disease mechanisms and treatment paradigms by focusing on the characteristics of specific cell types and molecule localization that cause disease. Located within the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster since 2006, KRI has continued to develop open innovation with research groups and researchers both within and outside the company. Recently, KRI has succeeded in bringing the in-house developed E6011 antibody into clinical development for the potential treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
3. About the Kansai International Strategic Innovation Zone
The “Comprehensive Special Zone” program serves to provide broad comprehensive support tailored to the characteristics of each region for wide-ranging and strategic region-based initiatives designated and accredited under the Comprehensive Special Zone Act of Japan through a range of deregulation, taxation, fiscal, and financial support policies. Relevant government ministries are involved in each of the projects included in the “Accredited Comprehensive Special Zone Plan,” and provide targeted financial support by leveraging the budgetary systems over which they have jurisdiction.
As members of the “Kansai International Strategic Innovation Zone,” based on this Comprehensive Special Zone Program, Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures are working in collaboration with the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe in an effort to create a structure that promotes the provision of solution-oriented businesses and market expansion initiatives capable of dealing with an aging society, energy problems and other issues that pose a challenge, not only to Japan, but also to countries across all of Asia, in healthcare/medicine and battery-derived energy applications-two areas in which the Kansai area excels.