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Practical Application ofRegenerative Medicine Using iPS Cells from Kobe
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is making sustained eﬀorts tocreate and provide innovative and eﬀective new drugs. In April,2014, the company established a new research base in Kobe toactively promote the business applying the most advanced
science such as iPS cells to drug discovery. We invited Mr. Toru
Kimura, Ph.D., Executive Oﬃcer, Director, Head of Regenerative& Cellular Medicine Oﬃce to deliver a lecture on the vision ofnew business (at the ʻForeign Investment Promotion Seminar toKOBE Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC)ʼ held in Oct. 2015, inTokyo). Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is focused on regenerativeand cellular medicine business that is promising as a therapy forrefractory rare diseases.

Circumstances surrounding
the regenerative andcellular medicine businessWe are actively involved in theregenerative and cellular medicine business
in which we discover cellular medicinesderived from iPS cells and regeneratep a t i e n t s ʼ t i s s u e s b y u s i n g c e ll s a s
medicines. Organ or bone-marrowtransplantation already in practicalapplication has been suﬀering an
insuﬃciency of donors, and use of ES cells(embryonic stem cells) faces ethicalobjections as ES cells are created bydestructing embryonic cells that may growto human beings. In 2006, however, iPS
cells (induced pluripotent stem cells)
created from human body cells werede v eloped, sho wing a possibilit y ofmaterialization of the regenerative andcellular medicine business. The market
volume is anticipated to be around 2.5trillion yen in Japan and 38 trillion yen inworldwide by the year 2050. As we havecontinued our studies on neurotrophic
factors and tissue regeneration sincearound 1990 and have a foundation incollaboration with our aﬃliates that conduct
cell research, we determined to take on thechallenge of this new ﬁeld in 2013.

Challenge to new drug
discovery and drug ﬁelds
Transplantation of cells derived from iPS
c ells c an b e divide d t o t w o t yp e s:
ʻAutologous transplantationʼ in which
patients receive cells derived from his/herown cells; and ʻallogeneic transplantationʼ

in which patients receive cells derived fromdonors. Since the ʻautologoustransplantationʼ that has already been put inclinical application requires a long period andenormous cost, we are currently engaged intreatment by creating and managing a large
quantity of cells by a new ﬁeld, ʻallogeneict r an s plan t a t i o n,ʼ u s in g t h e m a s c ell
medicines, and transplanting them into
patients. Once put in clinical application,
stored cells can immediately be administeredto patients in emergency, can be sent allover the world, and allow cost reduction.
However, we are currently facing many
problems in the processes from research &development to market formation. We
therefore cooperate with our aﬃliates, otherpharmaceutical companies, bio-venturecompanies with strong driving force and richR&D experience, and academia well-versed
in developmental biology that directly leads
to seeds for practical application, in working
on these problems.

such as Pharmaceuticals and Medical
Devices Agency (PMDA) and institutionsof the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare are located close to our center,and hospitals that can conduct clinicalresearch and clinical trials, medical
institutions, and laboratories areconcentrated. With such characteristics,
Kobe is the optimum place for us to takeon a new business that would be very
diﬃcult for us to engage in alone. Bytaking advantage of multilateralsupporting environment provided by thecity of Kobe, we will cooperate with themunicipal government and othercompanies and make our best eﬀorts toaddress practical application of iPS
regenerative and cellular medicines.

Based in ʻKOBEʼ andexpanding to the world
In April, 2014, we established our research
center ʻKobe Regenerative & CellularMedicine Centerʼ in front of the Iryo CenterStation. This area is the core of KBIC
including ʻRiken Center for Developmental
Biology (CDB),ʼ and various research centersof medical institutions. We place ouremphasis on age-related maculardegeneration and retinitis pigmentosa ino p h t h alm olo g y , an d c hr onic s t r o k e,
Parkinsonʼ s disease, and spinal cord injury
in the brain ﬁeld. In addition, we are planningto construct an iPS cell culture plant near
our center. In Kobe, related organizations

http://www.hyogo-kobe.jp/

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.
Address:(Osaka Head Office)6-8, Doshomachi 2-chome, Chuo-ku,Osaka(Tokyo Head Office)13-1,Kyobashi 1-chome,Chuo-ku, Tokyo(Kobe Regenerative & Cellular Medicine Center)
Kobe KIMEC Center Building 5th Fl. 5-2,
Minatojimaminamimachi 1-chome, Chuo-ku,
Kobe, Hyogo
President and CEO: Masayo Tada
Business: Manufacturing andsales of pharmaceuticals
URL: http://www.ds-pharma.com/

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Kobe, home of ﬂourishing life-science studies,is optimum for pharmaceutical research
Eli Lilly Japan K.K.

In 1876, Eli Lilly and Company was established in Indianapolis,
US, and has become a global pharmaceutical company thatsupplies pharmaceutical products in as many as 125 countries.
Its Japanese subsidiary, Eli Lilly Japan K.K. commenced businessin Kobe and is continuing to develop innovative new medicines
under the inherited philosophy that “Research is the Heart of theBusiness, the Soul of the Enterprise.” We invited Mr. Akikazu
Yoshikawa, Ph.D., Operating Oﬃcer, Senior Director, Science &Regulatory Aﬀairs, to deliver a lecture on the advantages of thecity of Kobe as a research base by introducing Eli Lilly as a casestudy (at the ʻForeign Investment Promotion Seminar to KOBE
Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC)ʼ held in Oct. 2015, in Tokyo).

Philosophy inherited fromthe R&D-driven
pharmaceutical company
As the Japanese subsidiary of Eli Lilly andCompany, that has been developing
numerous ʻworldʼ s ﬁrstʼ pharmaceuticalproducts in its history of 135 years or
more, Eli Lilly Japan K.K. was establishedin Kobe in 1975. It is the companyʼ ssecond-largest aﬃliate only after the USand holds a prominent position among Eli
Lillyʼ s global aﬃliates. Our head oﬃce is in
Chuo-ku and our Seishin Manufacturing
Site and Training Center is in Nishi-ku of
Kobe City. We spend a huge amount ofmoney on R&D of pharmaceutical products
at an industry-leading scale and haveachieved higher growth in Japan in recentyears. Today, we would like to introduce
our business, attractive features of Kobe
and opportunities of success in Kobe
especially for foreign-aﬃliatedcorporations.

disease that we are developing incollaboration with KBIC. We would like topoint out this collaboration as ademonstration of the value of Kobe-based
business. By taking advantage of theworldʼ s renowned thought leaders in
KBIC, hospital networks, and good accessto state-of-the-art technologies, we help
them in promoting clinical trials to verify
disease pathogenesis. In this collaboration,
we try to contribute to early detection andearly treatment of patients and further tothe city of Kobe that also faces
rapidly-aging society.

environment, where medical andpharmaceutical graduates can live andwork over the long term, and thus talented
and skilled personnel are available. Above
all, one of the greatest features of Kobe is
its high quality of life. Kobe enjoys goodaccess, well-maintained public order, and apleasant climate. We enjoy working in
Kobe every day, consuming refreshingly
delicious foods such as Kobe beef andconfectioneries. Since the opening of Kobe
port in 1868, the city has been actively
accepting foreign people and new thingsand creating superior products. The city
has an optimum social background forsettlement, growth and development offoreign-aﬃliated corporations.

Seishin Laboratories

In Japan, aﬀected by
the rapidly aging society

Business and living environment
optimum for pharmaceuticalproduct researches

By keeping a cautious eye on Japanʼ sstatus quo in which unmet medical needs
are increasing in the rapidly-aging society,
we focus on such therapeutic areas ofneuroscience diseases, endocrine
diseases, cancers, and cardiovasculardiseases. Above all, we place our emphasison the therapeutic agent of Alzheimerʼ s

Kobe has many other competitive edges:
the scale of the pharmaceutical market inKansai Area, that is larger than India orSouth Korea and comparable to thecountry of Russia; its convenience as aplace for foreign residents to live, with acomprehensive infrastructure includinginternational schools; and its ideal

http://www.hyogo-kobe.jp/

Eli Lilly Japan K.K.
Address:(Head Office)Sannomiya Plaza Building, 1-5, Isogami-dori
7-chome, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo(Seishin Laboratories)
3-3, Takatsukadai 4-chome, Nishi-ku,
Kobe, Hyogo
President: Patrik Jonsson
Business: Manufacturing and sales ofpharmaceuticals
URL(Eli Lilly and Company): http://www.lilly.com/