Eisai has commenced a venture investment business to excavate innovative technologies, supporting venture businesses with such technologies, and partnering with those businesses in the future, so as to accelerate innovation in drug creation as well as the establishment of ecosystem platform.
In line with its medium-term business plan, Eisai is conducting R&D activities through various approaches at Eisai's global drug creation sites, in order to create next-generation drugs mainly in the "neurology" and "oncology" areas defined as Eisai's therapeutic areas of focus.
Tokyo-based Eisai is aiming to deliver novel benefits to patients and their families, by establishing the "Platform". This will be done via actively utilising external big data and genomic data in addition to Eisai's own experience, know-how, and clinical data, as well as by building the "Ecosystem" via collaborating with partners from other pharmaceutical companies, governments and IT companies, to name a few.
As the first step, Eisai is proceeding with the efforts for the establishment of the dementia ecosystem.
In this investment business, Eisai is investing approximately 3 billion yen (£21 million) per year for five years within the framework of 15 billion yen (£110m) in total in venture businesses.
These can contribute to patient benefits that Eisai aims for by synergising with Eisai's researches in the neurology and oncology areas, as well as having innovative digital technologies supporting the establishment of the ecosystem platform.
While Eisai begins this investment business in Tokyo to lead healthcare-related ecosystems in Japan, the company also plans to set up satellite offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California. These are two of the major clusters for digital health and biotech ventures in the US, thus globally expanding investment areas.
Building on its long-cultivated capacity of global drug discovery and its network with local communities, Eisai is committed to utilising this investment business to accelerate innovation in drug creation in agile cooperation with academia, drug discovery ventures, IT ventures. While strengthening the construction of the ecosystem platform as it seeks to further contribute to increasing the benefits provided to consumers, patients and their families in the world.
