FUJIFILM Corporation has made a full-scale entry into the drug discovery support CRO business to accelerate business growth in the life science field. The company has established a new CRO Business Development Office to formulate and promote overall strategies for this business, providing services such as the search for new drug seeds and evaluation of efficacy and safety. It supports drug discovery research for pharmaceutical companies and other clients.
The same promotion office formulates overall strategies for the drug discovery support CRO business. The Bioscience & Engineering Research Institute, which conducts research and development of biotechnology, FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Corporation, which has advanced manufacturing infrastructure and knowledge of drug discovery, and FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemicals Corporation, which has a strong domestic sales network cultivated through its reagent business and other activities, will be combined with the Group’s resources to provide drug discovery support services in Japan.
Specifically, we are developing a drug discovery support CRO business in Japan by combining human iPS cell-derived differentiated cells developed and manufactured by FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc, a leading iPS cell company, and artificial intelligence (AI) technology accumulated through a wide range of product development. It provides services for evaluating the efficacy and safety of drug candidates and analyzing their mechanism of action by combining the differentiated cells derived from human iPS cells. Taking advantage of the ability to reproduce the effects of a drug on a human organism and conduct highly accurate evaluation and analysis, the service meets the needs of customers who want to reduce animal experiments using mice and other animals. We also offer sample preparation for gene therapeutic drugs and contract analyses of the molecular structure of the therapeutic drugs. We also provide drug discovery consulting services based on our expertise in pharmaceutical research and development, which we have cultivated mainly in the fields of cancer and infectious diseases.
Fujifilm currently provides contract drug development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services for small molecule drugs and biopharmaceuticals in the life science field, one of its key business domains. In the future, the company plans to fully develop its drug discovery support CRO services and establish a total support system covering drug discovery research, production process development, investigational drug manufacturing, and commercial production.
