Joint R&D with PeptiDream Inc.

March 28, 2016
Asahi Kasei Corp.

Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Kazuyoshi Hori) and PeptiDream Inc. (Head office: Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Kiichi Kubota) have concluded a joint R&D agreement for the discovery and development of nonstandard peptides1 against multiple drug target molecules.

PeptiDream’s proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) enables the rapid artificial generation of nonstandard peptide libraries with unparalleled diversity, and the efficient identification of nonstandard peptides that hold potential as therapeutics against target molecules by high-speed screening.

Under the terms of this agreement, Asahi Kasei Pharma will incorporate nonstandard peptide drug-discovery technology using PDPS in next-generation drug research. It is expected that this will dramatically increase the possibility of discovering candidate drug molecules for future development.

  1. 1 Nonstandard peptides include not only amino acids that occur in natural proteins, but also novel amino acids that do not naturally occur. The use of nonstandard peptides enables the discovery of candidate drug molecules having high activity, equivalent to antibodies, against target molecules, which would be difficult to obtain with small-molecule drugs, while exhibiting a superior pharmacokinetic profile equivalent to small-molecule drugs.

About PeptiDream Inc.

Founded in July 2006, PeptiDream is a biopharmaceutical company with world-leading technology for the discovery and development of novel highly functional peptide therapeutics. Based on its core technology of PDPS, PeptiDream operates businesses specialized in the discovery and development of highly functional peptide therapeutics, and promotes R&D by collaborating with other pharmaceutical companies all over the world. PeptiDream holds exclusive rights for PDPS-related patents. Please refer to PeptiDream’s website (www.peptidream.com/en/) for additional information.