Teijin, Japan Tissue Engineering (J-TEC), Mitsui Fudosan and the National Cancer Centre (NCC) have jointly announced they will establish a regenerative medicine platform in Kashiwanoha Smart City.
The platform will serve as a one-stop system supporting research and development, business plan formulation, and commercial production of regenerative medicine products. In particular, the four partners aim to accelerate the commercialisation of regenerative medicine and innovative treatments for cancer. As part of the plan, the partners already have begun to support seed holders.
Looking at the four partners: NCC provides cutting-edge cancer treatments and produces drug discovery seeds; J-TEC has extensive experience in product development, manufacturing and marketing as a pioneer of regenerative medicines; Teijin boasts expertise in drug research, development and marketing; and Mitsui Fudosan builds spaces and communities for innovation in life sciences.
Their envisioned platform, taking advantage of the physical and functional proximity of the four parties, is expected to quickly and efficiently provide solutions for manufacturing and clinical development, business planning and commercial production. The contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) served by Teijin and J-TEC will be located in Mitsui Link-Lab Kashiwanoha 1 operated by Mitsui Fudosan, and is adjacent to the NCC Hospital East and NCC Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Centre.
The platform will also support projects of other organisations that have seeds. NCC will provide professional consulting and collaboration with seed holders and investigator-initiated clinical trials. Teijin and J-TEC offer practical consulting and support for contracted development and manufacturing. Mitsui Fudosan will be responsible for venue operation and providing support for individual initiatives.
Some one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year in Japan. Development of innovative treatments using regenerative medicines, including genetically modified immune cell therapy, also known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cell therapy, has been ongoing worldwide in recent years
In preparation to start up the CDMO facility scheduled to open in January 2024, the platform will promote the development of regenerative medicines among academic institutions, start-up companies, pharmaceutical companies and others. It also will solicit research and development and clinical collaborations with medical institutions as well as key opinion leaders (KOL) and business enterprises in the fields of cancer and regenerative medicine.
With this agreement, the four parties will strive to stimulate demand and build up their platform, aiming eventually at establishing a structure capable of supporting about 10 projects annually with the purpose of bringing regenerative medicines to market.
Teijin, in collaboration with J-TEC, will invest a substantial portion of its more than JPY 3 billion CDMO-related investment budget into the project, mainly for facilities and human resource training in Mitsui Link-Lab Kashiwanoha 1 over the next two to three years, thereby helping to establish a CDMO facility mainly for supporting the development of manufacturing methods as well as actual manufacturing.
According to the NCC, some one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year in Japan. Development of innovative treatments using regenerative medicines, including genetically modified immune cell therapy, also known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cell therapy, has been ongoing worldwide in recent years. In addition, research and development of promising treatments and their seeds are underway. Meanwhile, the practical application of regenerative medicine requires specialised knowledge and practical experience regarding matters such as pharmaceutical approval and quality control.
A wide range of commercialisation knowhow also is required. As a result, many academic institutions and start-up companies are unable to commercialise their research and development independently. Teijin, J-TEC, Mitsui Fudosan and NCC, based on their clear understanding of such needs, have now agreed to establish a regenerative medicine platform to provide academic institutions with professional expertise and commercialisation knowhow on a collaborative basis.
Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, which is served by Kashiwa-no-ha Campus Station about 30 minutes by express train from central Tokyo, is an area with accumulation of Japan’s leading academic and medical institutions for some of Japan's leading academia and medical facilities. In addition to Mitsui Garden Hotel Kashiwa-no-ha Parkside, which supports cancer patients, the smart city has become a lively community of offices and commercial facilities. Mitsui Link Lab Kashiwanoha 1, located at 6-6-2 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba Prefecture, comprises about 11,000 metres squared of total floor space and offers rental space of about 8,000 metres squared.
