List of Biologics Companies in Japan - 49

aceRNA Technologies Co., Ltd. is a biotech startup established in 2018 based on RNA design technology developed in synthetic RNA biology research by Prof. Hirohide Saito at Kyoto University. We are developing "smart gene therapy” (mRNA-based and virus-base) that enables control of therapeutic transgene expression in cell-type and -state specific manner. By that, we are committed to develop new therapeutic approach, such as in vivo cell programming.

AnGes was founded In December 1999, with the aim of developing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene therapy drugs which can help regenerate blood vessels. Originating from the word angiogenesis meaning the formation of new blood vessels in English, our corporate name AnGes encapsulates our desire to be an angel (ange in French) offering new drugs for patients with hard-to-treat and rare diseases. Both our founder and our employees are still motivated by this desire.

Research and development of biopharmaceuticals and bioproducts

A public biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel cancer immunotherapies.

Celaid Therapeutics is a Japan-based biotechnology company, which has developed a platform technology to efficiently expand hematopoietic stem cells ex vivo without choosing its origins, including bone marrow, cord blood, or peripheral blood. By using the novel technology, we are developing a cell therapy product that brings HSC transplantation to the next level and helps patients with blood disorders. Our technology has many potential applications including gene/cell therapy that utilize gene editing on HSC. Our mission is to improve QOL of patients, their families, and HSC donors all over the world.

Cellusion is committed to pursuing a patient-centric approach at our cutting-edge research and development (R&D) for diseases where regenerative medicine technologies can create a unique value proposition. We expand the possibilities of people around the world both physically and mentally.

Chiome Bioscience Inc. designs, develops, and sells monoclonal antibody products for medicine, diagnosis, testing, and life sciences. Chiome Bioscience is a clinical stage biotechnology company. Chiome's focus is on discovery and development of antibody-based therapeutics.

Chugai’s strength in R&D and antibody technologies continues on in global efforts for products and services for the benefit of patients. Chugai Pharma USA, Inc. (CPUSA), located in Berkeley Heights, NJ, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Chugai). CPUSA supports the planning and execution of global and U.S. clinical programs for Chugai-originated, innovative new drug candidates. Chugai is one of Japan’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies with strengths in biotechnology products. Chugai, based in Tokyo, specializes in prescription pharmaceuticals and is listed on the 1st section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. As an important member of the Roche Group, Chugai is actively involved in R&D activities in Japan and abroad. Specifically, Chugai is working to develop innovative products which may satisfy the unmet medical needs in Chugai’s strategic fields of oncology, bone and joint diseases, and renal diseases as well as other therapeutic areas with serious unmet needs. Chugai develops its products independently from Roche until early Proof-of-Concept (PoC) for worldwide market, including U.S. For late stage clinical development and marketing outside of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, Chugai seeks for partnership with Roche, which has the first refusal rights to develop/sell Chugai products, or other third parties.

Bio Information is energy! COGNANO, Inc. is a venture to aim for computer-supported drug discovery. The big VHH data obtained from our own alpacas will lead us to a new drug discovery platform. Our goal is to optimize drug designing/development.

Dioseve Inc. Our revolutionary technology, DIO (Directly Induced Oocyte), is capable of producing an extremely large yield of fertilizable egg cells at a minimal cost.

Eisai’s Corporate Concept is “to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides.” Under this Concept (also known as human health care (hhc) Concept), we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology. In addition, we demonstrate our commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with working on various activities together with global partners.

Epsilon Molecular Engineering (EME) Inc. is an evolutionary molecular engineering based biopharmaceutical drug discovery company. EME was established in 2016 as a venture company from Saitama University in Japan, and has proprietary technologies, unique cDNA display libraries of the heavy chain single domain antibodies (VHH) and cyclic peptides with large diversity (10^13-14), and high-throughput screening methods using next-generation sequence, FACS and Machine learning (Bioinformatics). EME is, currently, conducting several joint research projects, including COVID-19, and 17 ongoing inhouse projects in the arias of cancer, inflammation, and Alzheimer’s disease, etc.

Gene Therapy Research Institution Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Japan. Based on extensive research, the company is committed to providing safe and effective gene therapies for refractory diseases for which effective therapies have not yet been established. Focusing on Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer's disease, the company strives to find safer viral vectors and more effective genetic technologies to bring new treatment options to patients.

Nasal vaccine development for infectious diseases

弊社は、バイオ革命によって急速に発展し始めている再生医療分野において、体性幹細胞再生医薬品/iPSC再生医薬品の研究開発を行っているバイオベンチャーです。2015年6月には東証マザーズに上場。再生・細胞医薬品の開発・製造を世界で先駆けて取り組み、病で苦しむ患者さんに治療法を提供し希望を届けることを目標としています。 Our company is a bio venture which is doing R & D of somatic stem cell regenerating medicine / iPSC regenerating medicine in the regenerative medicine field which is rapidly developing by the bio-revolution. We were listed on TSE Mothers in June 2015. Our long-term object is to deliver hope to patients suffering from illness by providing treatment methods by pioneering the development and manufacture of regeneration and cellular medicines worldwide.

iHeart Japan​ is an venture company developing regenerative medicine products.

Japan BCG Laboratory was established in 1952 and has produced high-quality BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guérin) vaccine ever since. Japan BCG Laboratory is the sole supplier of this vaccine in Japan. Working with UNICEF, WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Japan BCG Laboratory has distributed its BCG vaccine in more than 50 countries worldwide and has become a respected and longstanding supplier of high-quality products. Japan BCG Laboratory has supplied more than 2.25 billion doses of BCG vaccine for more than 50 years.

Japan Blood Products Organization is a medical device company that is involved in the collection and supply of blood for use in transfusions. They are also engaged in research and development of blood products.

JCR Pharmaceutical is a global specialty pharmaceuticals company that is expanding possibilities for people with rare and genetic diseases worldwide. Our core values – reliability, confidence, and belief – mean that the work we do benefits all our stakeholders, including employees, partners, and patients. We continue to build upon our 49-year legacy in Japan while expanding our global footprint with trials in the US, Europe, and Latin America. We improve patients' lives by applying our scientific expertise and unique technologies to research, develop, and deliver next-generation therapies. We are leaders in developing therapies for rare conditions, including lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). We are building on the development work we've done in Japan to expand our LSD pipeline: Our first-in-class proprietary technology, J-Brain Cargo®, enables us to develop therapies that cross the blood-brain barrier and penetrate the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS complications of diseases are often severe, resulting in developmental delays, an impact on cognition and, above all, poor prognosis, which affect patients' independence as well as the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. With J-Brain Cargo®, we seek to address the unresolved clinical challenges of LSDs and CNS-related disorders, including neurodegeneration, neuro-oncology, and neuro-inflammation conditions, by delivering the therapy to both the body and the brain. We will continuously try to create value by our unique J-Brain Cargo® technology platform toward our corporate philosophy: “contributing towards people’s healthcare through pharmaceutical products.” In addition to the in-house research activities, we think collaborative research and development work with other companies are also important. The value of our technology platform will be increased by integrating ours with other technologies and by implementing J-Brain Cargo® within other companies’ products.

Kidswell Bio Corporation (KWB), formerly known as Gene Techno Science, has been growing by leveraging our expertise in Biosimilar field in Japan. By 2024, four BS products were brought to market by our partner pharmaceutical companies as outcomes of co-developments between the companies and KWB. Besides, KWB has engaged in research and development for regenerative medicine with stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) since 2019, which targeted pediatric diseases, orphan disease and intractable disease with the aim of achieving comprehensive healthcare solutions for patients suffering from these diseases as well as for their families and caregivers. On the 1st of April 2024, the regenerative medicine business became independent as S-Quatre Corporation (SQ). KWB and SQ lead biosimilar business and regenerative medicine business　respectively, and grow together as two pillars of Kidswell Bio group. キッズウェル・バイオ株式会社(旧株式会社ジーンテクノサイエンス)はバイオシミラー医薬品事業により成長してきた。パートナー製薬企業との共同開発の結果、2024年までに4つのバイオシミラー製品を日本にて上市させている。一方で、2019年からは、乳歯由来歯髄幹細胞を用いた再生医療の研究開発に着手し、希少疾患、難病に加えて、小児疾患を重点的なターゲットと定め、患者様、及びそのご家族や介護者の方を含めた包括的なケアを目指した研究開発を行なってきた。KWBは2024年4月1日にこの再生医療事業を専門に行なう子会社である株式会社S-Quatreを設立し、現在はキッズウェル・バイオグループとしてバイオシミラーと再生医療の両事業を展開している。

Kissei Pharmaceutical - Approaching R&D with Passion and Creativity “Pharmaceutical company cannot exist without R&D.” These words have been passed down at Kissei ever since the company was founded. They show that R&D is an essential and central part of our work, The phrase also expresses the passion of each and every Kissei Pharmaceutical - Kissei employee for the development of new innovative drugs, in the hope that those drugs will help as many people as possible recover as quickly as possible from disease and live lives full of laughter and joy. We aim to develop and supply innovative pharmaceutical products that contribute to the improvement of medicine and the health of people around the world by aggressive incorporation of leading-edge technology and collaborations with our foreign and domestic partners.

KM Biologics' history of vaccine production started with the smallpox vaccine over a half century ago. Since then, we have produced many vaccines including those for typhoid and typhus, and have contributed to the eradication of infectious diseases in Japan. In recent years, through collaborating with companies and universities in Japan and overseas, we have been working on the development of new vaccines such as cell culture-derived influenza vaccines and DPT-based combined vaccines.

We are a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing functional mitochondria as therapeutic agents, an emerging platform to treat damaged tissues and organs.

Luxna Biotech is a preclinical antisense drug development company based on proprietary modified nucleic acids, unique bridged structure (AmNA, scpBNA, GuNA) and modified DNA (5'-CP) can eliminate phosphorothioated in antisense and siRNA. Currently, better modifications are being discovered that are suitable for applications in neurological diseases that minimize neurotoxicity while maintaining knockdown efficacy in vivo by Gapmer. Based on these findings we developed excellent antisense (ASO) drug discovery platform called “LuxiAPTM” enable to wide therapeutic index for CNS ASO drug. We have several pharmaceutical collaborations and original ASO pipeline including ALS, Spinal cord injury and Hearing loss. We are looking for the partners not only for platform collaboration with pharmaceuticals and biotech but early-stage co-development alliance with our original pipeline.

Metagen Therapeutics, Inc. is a drug discovery and development company that leverages the power of gut microbiome design cultivated in Metabologenomics, Inc. We are eager for partnerships in pharmaceutical, healthcare, functional food, and academia that envisions creating future businesses with one of the best microbiome scientist teams. For inquiries, please contact contact@metagentx.com

Revolutionizing the Way We Treat Heart Failure Heart failure kills more people globally than any other ailments, yet there is no ultimate treatment for the condition. Our goal is to develop and commercialize an effective and reasonably-priced therapy for heart failure using a specific fibroblast cells we call “VCF”, that we obtain from the patient’s own heart. Our approach to heart failure therapy is quite different from other technologies in a sense that we do not want to replace what is “broken”, but rather we want to repair the damage by enhancing the cells’ own ability to heal.

Our founding discoveries came from the labs of Prof. Takagi and Prof Suga (the 2023 winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry), both of whom are deeply involved in our R&D to this day. Their innovations enable a novel class of biologics, called “Neobiologics,” that break existing boundaries in biological drug development and will ultimately better, more cost-effective treatments for patients. Internally and with our partners, we are advancing a robust portfolio of products: 1. cMet agonist to HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) to tackle NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis)/fibrosis; currently in IND enabling studies. 2. TrkB agonist of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) to tackle neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson’s Disease; currently in vivo studies. 3. Immuno-oncology bi-specific with T-cell engaging activity and a tumor antigen-specific binder; currently in vitro R&D. 4. Undisclosed assets in various stages. This pipeline builds off our core RaPID System and LassoGraft Technology® (LGT) platforms. The RaPID System selects highly active cyclic peptides that tightly bind to drug-target proteins from our diverse library. These peptides are then genetically grafted onto scaffold proteins using LGT to create Neobiologics. Neobiologics break multiple current boundaries for biologics, such as access across the blood-brain barrier, 3D topological design control, multifunctionality (bi-specific, tri-specific, etc.), wide applicability from AAV capsid modulation to antibodies to therapeutic proteins and superior development speeds that drop development costs significantly. Selected publications 1. Mihara, E et al. Lasso-grafting of macrocyclic peptide pharmacophores yields multi-functional proteins. Nature Communications (2021)2:1543 2. Sakai, K et al. Designing receptor agonists with enhanced pharmacokinetics by grafting macrocyclic peptides into fragment crystallizable regions. Nature Biomedical Engineering 7, 164-176 (2023)

Mochida Pharmaceutical - By aiming to become a comprehensive healthcare company, Mochida Pharmaceutical has made significant contributions in the field of medical care through its pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, and medical equipment businesses. Several years back, to improve the profitability, competitiveness value of all its divisions, Mochida Pharmaceutical split off the Medical Electronics and Equipment Division in 2003, the Healthcare Division in 2004 and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Division in 2005. Currently, the Group consists of Mochida Pharmaceutical and five consolidated subsidiaries. We at the Mochida Pharmaceutical Group remain committed as ever to contributing to peoples' health and well-being.

Momotaro-Gene is a biotech start-up company from Okayama University whose main technology lies in tumour suppressor gene. They are focused on the development of a next-generation cancer drug.

NBHL is committed to discovering First-In-Class medicines for the unmet medical needs with the sophisticated drug discovery platforms ( Monoclonal Antibody for GPCR and Small compounds ). We are looking for the pharmaceutical partners to develop the following projects. We are available for the project-based Drug discovery alliance, using our drug discovery platforms powered by PerkinElmer, and Biotech companies.

Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd. is a company that has always devoted serious efforts to make people's lives better. All these efforts have been made based on their strong belief that they should build a healthier future. The company is involved in the manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs, and its functional food products find application in various industries such as meat processing, fish processing, dairy product, prepared food, confectionery and bakery, and beverage. Nippon Shinyaku also has research laboratories and a botanical research institute, as well as production and logistics facilities. The company is committed to ESG management and provides information to shareholders and investors through its IR activities. Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Japan and has branch offices and group companies in various locations.

Development of novel cancer immunotherapies mainly using CAR T cells

Nxera Pharma (formerly Sosei Heptares) is a technology powered biopharma company, in pursuit of new specialty medicines to improve the lives of patients with unmet needs in Japan and globally. In addition to several products being commercialized in Japan, we are advancing an extensive pipeline of over 30 active programs from discovery through to late clinical stage internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies. This pipeline is focused on addressing major unmet needs in some of the fastest-growing areas of medicine across neurology, GI and immunology, metabolic disorders and rare diseases, and leverages the power of our unique and industry leading GPCR-targeted structure-based drug discovery "NxWave" platform to provide a sustainable source of best- or first-in-class candidates. Nxera employs over 350 talented people at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).

At Ohara, we are aiming to provide not only treatment options for patients, but also aiming to identify and develop innovative tools to improve the quality of diagnosis, prevention and after care in an effort to become a Total Healthcare Solution company for patients.

Oncolys BioPharma Inc. is a Tokyo-based bioventure established in Japan in March 2004. Its mission is to contribute to the advancement of medical science in the world through bringing innovation to the existing treatments for cancer and serious infectious diseases, using its virology-based new drug discovery technologies. The company operates in two business segments. Pharmaceutical Business segment is engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of novel drugs. Its major pipeline Telomelysin (OBP-301), an oncolytic adenovirus immunotherapy is in clinical development targeting various types of solid tumors including melanoma , HCC and esophageal cancer. Along with Telomelysin, an anti-HIV drug OBP-601 (Censavudine) and a novel HDAC inhibitor OBP-801 are also under development in the United States. Diagnostics Business segment is engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of CTC (Circulating Tumor Cell) detection adenovirus TelomeScan, as well as the provision of inspection services. Oncolys was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market in December 2014 and has a clinical laboratory center in Kobe, Japan and a subsidiary in New Jersey, USA.

OncoTherapy Science, Inc. provides pharmaceutical companies with yielded drug candidates by using outcomes obtained from joint research with universities and companies. These outcomes include oncogene information isolated by comprehensive analysis of genes specifically expressed in cancer cells and functional analysis information of proteins produced by oncogenes and other gene products. We have also been performing research and development business regarding medications.

This company is a spinout from Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Kyoto University, focusing on the development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology-based regenerative medicine.

PeptiDream Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market 4587) is leading the translation of macrocyclic peptides into a whole new class of innovative medicines to address unmet medical needs and improve the quality of life of patients worldwide. Founded in 2006, PeptiDream employs its proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology, a state-of-the-art highly versatile discovery platform which enables the production of highly diverse (trillions) non-standard peptide libraries with high efficiency, for the identification of highly potent and selective macrocyclic peptide candidates, which then can be developed into peptide-based, small molecule-based, peptide-drug conjugate (PDC), and multi-functional peptide conjugates (MPC)-based therapeutics and diagnostics. PeptiDream has an extensive global network of discovery and development partners driving the development and commercialization of a broad and diversified pipeline of investigational therapeutics. PeptiDream also markets and sells a number of radiopharmaceutical and radiodiagnostic products in Japan, through its wholly owned subsidiary, PDRadiopharma.

Based on the discovery by our Founder, Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, we are developing stable, functional-induced Tregs that are antigen-specific (S/F-iTregs). Our S/F-iTregs address the limitations of earlier attempts to create therapeutic Tregs and competitive advantages over CAR-Treg approaches.

Rege Nephro is a clinical-stage biotech company developing cell therapy for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and small molecule for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), and founded in 2019. There are 13 million patients with CKD in Japan, of which 340,000 are severe CKD patients forced to undergo artificial dialysis. The healthcare cost of dialysis is $12 billion, 4% of the total healthcare cost of Japan. However, there is still no curative treatment for CKD. Rege Nephro tries to treat patients suffering from CKD with cell therapy using nephron progenitor cells differentiated from iPS cells.

The purpose of the Shionogi Group's corporate activities is, as expressed in the opening of its Company Policy, to "supply the best possible medicine to protect the health and wellbeing of the patients we serve."​ This eternal and unwavering corporate philosophy is a statement of our vision and value to society. To achieve and live by the Company Policy, we have formulated Action Guidelines, which all Shionogi employees share and embrace as norms for daily activities. Through activities based on the Company Policy and the Action Guidelines, Shionogi will continue to contribute to patients, physicians and other healthcare providers, shareholders and investors, and furthermore to society as a whole.

TAGCyx’s scientific team has established its proprietary Xenoligo® technology platform, allowing high functional oligonucletide drug discovery. The Xenoligo® platform utilizes genetic alphabet expansion by unnatural base-pairs to generate customized nucleic acid suited for therapeutic applications.

Takara Bio Inc. is committed to improving the human condition through biotechnology. Starting as the biomedical business of Takara Shuzo, a fermentation and beverage company founded in 1925 (now Takara Holdings Company, Inc.), Takara Bio has focused on developing research tools for the life sciences, cell and gene therapy technologies, and nutraceuticals since its launch in 1967. The three business units of TAKARA BIO INC are: • Genetic Engineering Research - manufactures and sells research reagents and scientific instruments used by biotechnology researchers worldwide, as well as contract research services. • Agribio - produces and sells health food products whose functionality have been proven by biotechnology, and conducts a mushroom business based on technologies for large-scale mushroom production. • Gene Medicine - conducts clinical development projects to work toward commercializing cell and gene therapies centered on a highly efficient gene transduction method and a lymphocyte expansion-culture system, both using RetroNectin® reagent.

We strive to transform lives. While the science we advance is constantly evolving, our core purpose is enduring. For more than two centuries, our values have guided us to do what’s right for patients and for society. We know that changing lives requires us to do things differently. We start by listening to and addressing what really matters to patients, the people who love them, and those in the healthcare system who provide care. And that’s what inspires us all to be bold, push boundaries and set new standards that open up greater opportunities. Read our community guidelines: https://takeda.info/communityguidelines

UMN Pharma Co., Ltd. is a bioventure company established in April 2004. The company name is Unmet Medical Needs (UMN), and the company is currently focusing on developing and manufacturing vaccines to prevent infectious diseases.

We will create immunotherapy using nanotechnology as a new treatment option for intractable cancers and viral infections.Uniting Immunity and Nanotechnology for Fighting Cancer and Infectious Diseases