| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
July 26, 2004
GenomIdea's
Joint Development with Mitsubishi Space Software Bears Fruit
-- Development of a New Drug Design System for the Next-generation
Nucleic acid Medicine "siRNA" Completed -- |
 |
|
|
AnGes MG hereby announces the development of
a highly anticipated new drug design system that holds great
promise for the nucleic acid medicine siRNA, a next-generation
nucleic acid medicine, by AnGes’ subsidiary GenomIdea
Inc. via joint development with Mitsubishi Space Software Co.,
Ltd. (MSS).
MSS and GenomIdea will further enhance the accuracy of this
drug design system by using an HVJ envelope vector high-throughput
functional analysis system, to get prepared for acceptance of
drug design orders for siRNA from pharmaceutical companies starting
as early as next fiscal year. GenomIdea also plans to conduct
its own research into medicines based on siRNA in the future.
siRNA is a short double-stranded RNA that has the same sequence
as part of the target gene (mRNA), and possesses the characteristic
of vigorously repressing the action of the gene. A wide range
of diseases today are believed to be triggered by overexpressing
genes susceptible to certain pathogens. For this reason, the
capability of siRNA to vigorously repress the action of a target
gene has engendered high hopes in recent years as a next-generation
nucleic acid medicine of great promise. However, as the degree
of siRNA's activity largely differs according to the sequence
to be selected, a major research objective has been to determine
which sequence of a target gene to be used in the case of human
gene families. So far there has been no convincing method to
determine such a sequence, but the drug design system developed
by MSS and GenomIdea is capable of solving the problem.
For conventional medicines composed of relatively simple chemical
compounds, selecting a new drug substance effectively involves
application of the random screening method to narrow down candidates.
This technique until now has been the main way in which substances
appropriate to medicinal use have been chosen from among samples
prepared in volume. However, as it requires samples to be prepared
in abundance, random screening is not suitable for the costly
production of siRNA. Based on this consideration, GenomIdea
and MSS have cooperated to develop a drug design system that
allows selection of a sequence of siRNA that will be able to
vigorously repress a disease-causing target gene while also
possessing strong specificity and no significant adverse reactions.
This jointly developed system does not require production of
a large quantity of samples, and is capable of searching a target
gene for an siRNA sequence suitable for clinical use.
From this point onward, GenomIdea, using an HVJ envelope vector
high-throughput functional analysis system, will be analyzing
a large number of siRNA at high speed. At the same time, MSS
will exert its efforts to enhance the accuracy of the drug design
system further by gathering data such as siRNA sequences, their
activity, and the safety-related issues provided by such functional
analysis. In the commercialization process, they will be ready
to accept drug design orders for siRNA from pharmaceutical companies
as early as next fiscal year, and GenomIdea plans to launch
its own research program in order to develop medicines from
siRNA in the future.
The siRNA drug design system has been developed as part of a
2003 Regional Regeneration Consortium's Research and Development
Project led by the Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry. |
| Company
Profile |
|
|
|
| Mitsubishi Space Software Co., Ltd. |
| Headquarters: |
2-4-1 Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo |
| President: |
Michiaki Miyake |
| Establishment: |
March, 1962 |
| Capital: |
500,000,000 yen (as of March, 2004) |
| Payroll: |
966 (as of March, 2004) |
| Business Activities: |
Software manufacture, sales, services, bioinformatics
related businesses |
| Major shareholders (Shareholding ratio): |
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (86 %) |
|
|
| GenomIdea Inc. |
| Headquarters: |
4-15-5 Tenma, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka |
| President: |
Takuma Nakatsuka |
| Establishment: |
July, 2002 |
| Capital: |
90,000,000 yen (as of June, 2004) |
| Payroll: |
25 (as of June, 2004) |
| Sales: |
101,000,000 yen (for the term ended December, 2003) |
| Business Contents: |
Development of a new vector technology |
| Major shareholders (Shareholding ratio): |
AnGes MG, Inc. (78 %) |
|
|
|
