Press Release
March 30, 2017
DCI Partners Co., Ltd.

The founding of a new biotech company「J-mab Therapeutics, Inc.」
DCI Partners Co., Ltd. (a group company of Daiwa Securities Group, Inc. and wholly owned by Daiwa
Corporate Investment Co., Ltd.), managing one of the largest biotech funds in Japan named Daiwa
Taiwan-Japan Biotech Fund with an aggregate fund size of 11.6 billion yen (the “Fund”), is pleased toannounce that the Fund takes the initiative to launch a new company named J-mab Therapeutics, Inc.
(“J-mab”), and the new company has achieved a license agreement with Juntendo University and RIKENi.
J-mab was founded to accelerate R&D of antibodies invented by Dr. Shuji Matsuoka, department ofpathology and oncology in Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo Japan, and supported by researchteams of RIKEN for the identification of their target molecules. The antibodies could induce a novel type ofcell death to malignant lymphoma cells but not normal cells, indicating that they would potentially become
new cancer therapeutic drugs without adverse effects.
1. Overview

The antibodies are created based on the research results of department of pathology and oncology inJuntendo University School of Medicine and RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences and Programfor Drug Discovery and Medical Technology Platforms. Two unique activities of the antibodies arecharacterized, of which one is that the antibodies can directly and rapidly destroy cancer cells without any
aids of inherent immune systems such as ADCC or CDC, and the other is that they would show a positive
medical performance on the recurrent cancer even with resistant strains’ appearance, suggesting that there
exist possibilities to provide new therapeutic agents to patients with malignant lymphoma and adult T cellleukemia and patients who have relapsed which could not be treated with conventional anticancer drugs ormolecular targeted drugs.
The Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in privately-held biotechnology companies centered on thetherapeutic field in Japan and Taiwan. In addition to investments into existing biotechnology companies, theFund is also actively engaged in a launch of new startups, known as “Venture Creation Investment”. J-mab is
the first case in Venture Creation Investment in Japan.

1

Press ReleaseThe new company has also signed a contract of receiving a capital of approximately 1 billion yen with
Nissay Capital No. 7 Investment Limited Partnership ("Nissay 7") managed by Nissay Capital Co., Ltd., aswell as the Fund. Moreover, in addition to funding over R&D expenditures, the Fund will also commit toprovide hands-on support by actively liaising with advisors who possess expertise in the areas such as drug
development, licensing, regulatory affairs and business development, in order to facilitate R&D progress inthe new company.
The Fund will continuously source attractive seeds and make best effort to contribute to the development ofhealth care and pharmaceutical industries in Japan and Taiwan.
2. Overview of Business Scheme

Overview of the Fund
Name

Daiwa

Taiwan-Japan

BiotechFund

Investment

Limited Partnership
Date of Establishment

January 15, 2015

Total Committed Capital

JPY 11.6 billion

General Partner (GP)DCI Partners Co., Ltd.

Main Limited Partners

・Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises andRegional Innovation, JAPAN・National Development Fund, Executive Yuan2Press Release
Overview of DCI Partners
Name

DCI Partners Co., Ltd.

Date of Establishment

May 20, 2014

Share Capital

JPY 50 million

Head Office

1-9-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Shareholder

Daiwa Corporate Investment Co., Ltd.（100％）

President & CEOHiroki Narita

3. Contact

For further information, please contact
DCI Partners Co., Ltd. : Narita, Kodama, Yokota (+81-3-5555-6337)

i

RIKEN : Japan’s largest and most comprehensive research organization for basic and applied science and a world
leader in a diverse array of scientific disciplines. Source: http://www.riken.jp/en/

3