Astellas Pharma Inc. and Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. announced that Astellas will establish a "TME imaging and interactive research for innovation (TME iLab)" open innovation hub in October, 2023 in "MITSUI LINK-Lab KASHIWA-NO-HA 1" (Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, "the Lab") operated by Mitsui Fudosan.
In order to continue to discover innovative drugs, including anticancer drugs, it is essential to bring together cutting-edge science in multiple fields and combine it in research and development. Using these cutting-edge facilities, the companies will promote "defining characteristics of the tumor microenvironment in clinical specimens," "selecting biomarkers for effective therapies from clinical data," and "identification of candidate target molecules that will become new therapeutic targets."
"We are pleased to reach an agreement with Mitsui Fudosan. In our new hub of open innovation, we are seeking a wide range of partners with innovative expertise and technologies in tumor microenvironment research," said Yoshitsugu Shitaka, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer (CScO), Astellas. "By combining Astellas' capabilities in drug discovery with the knowledge of partners, including academia and venture companies, we expect to accelerate anticancer drug research and create innovative drugs. Through these activities, we will also contribute to further growth of the ecosystem in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City."
"We sincerely welcome Astellas to establish a hub in Kashiwa-no-ha. In the Kashiwa-no-ha area, a smart city is being built through public-private-academic collaboration, and in the life science area, an ecosystem that generates innovation is being created through the formation of communities to support both cross-collaboration between academia and industry on medical and healthcare-related initiatives and the social implementation of research and development seeds," said Kazunori Yamashita, Executive Managing Officer, General Manager, Mitsui Fudosan. "In the life science area as well, the creation of an ecosystem that fosters innovation is progressing. We, too, will contribute to the development of TME iLab and industrial growth, including the creation of innovative drugs, by working to create a place for promoting innovation and building a community."
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