Ricoh Acquires U.S. Startup to Advance Drug-Discovery Research
Ricoh Company of Japan announced today that it’s acquired a majority stake in U.S.-based drug-research company Elixirgen Scientific.
Ricoh had previously acquired 34.5 percent of Elixirgen Scientific’s stock in 2019. By having Elixirgen Scientific, which is based in Baltimore, Maryland, as its subsidiary, Ricoh aims to accelerate the development and construction of drug-discovery infrastructure for anti-aging and virus treatments.
Elixirgen Scientific’s drug discovery research and disease research involves using iPS (Induced pluripotent stem cells) with its proprietary “Quick-Tissue” technology that enables high-speed differentiation of iPS cells and ES cells (embryonic stem cells) into various types of cells. Ricoh will expand the application of Elixirgen Scientific’s technology and contribute to the acceleration of personalized medicine and drug-discovery research with its digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. In addition, by utilizing Elixirgen Scientific’s cell experiment data, the two companies aim to start a business in predicting drug responses and disease mechanisms using AI technology.
In September 2021, Elixirgen Scientific became the first company in the Asia-Pacific region to launch a CDMO business (contract development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical products) for mRNA drugs. In November of the same year, it established a Japanese subsidiary, Elixirgen Scientific Japan, to strengthen its business in Japan.
Ricoh says it will support the company’s business with its automation technology and production management experience to expand the scale and efficiency of the CDMO business. By strengthening Elixirgen Scientific’s medical mRNA production capacity in the region, Ricoh says it will support the production of vaccines and other mRNA investigational drugs and mRNA active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Overview of Drug-Discovery Support Using mRNA and iPS cells
Ricoh noted that as new infectious diseases and the aging of the population continue to advance worldwide, personalized medicine is expected to become a reality. On the other hand, shortening the development period for the production of candidate substances, selection of substances with medicinal properties, and safety verification has become an important issue in researching and developing new drugs required for personalized medicine.
As the rapid commercialization of vaccines for COVID-19 has attracted attention, it says drug discovery using mRNA can significantly shorten the research and development period compared to conventional pharmaceuticals. This is because it’s possible to design effective sequences in a short period by, for example, copying a part of specific genetic information. Ricoh expects that this technology will be used in vaccines and cancer drugs.
Ricoh also said that by differentiating iPS cells into a variety of cell types, iPS cells can be used to pre-confirm the effects of candidate drugs on patients with various genetic backgrounds. As a result, candidate drugs for clinical trials can be quickly narrowed down.
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