News Release
September 2023
EPD Co., Ltd.
C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.

Concluded a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ Co., Ltd. for
exploring useful substances
for anti-obesity contained in natural products
EPD Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tomohisa Hayakawa;hereinafter referred to as EPD) has signed a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.
(Representative Director: Masahiko Kikuchi, hereinafter referred to as C-HAS+) for exploring
useful substances for prevention and improvement of obesity and obesity-related diseases containedin natural products.

【Release Highlights】
・ EPD focuses on the potential to detect any candidate substances of ingredient forpharmaceuticals and food preventing and improving obesity and metabolic diseases by humanbrown adipocytes models.
・ EPD has concluded a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ and has initiated to explore useful
substances contained in natural products utilizing a drug discovery-oriented plant database andabundant natural product banks of C-HAS+.

【Release Details】
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Japanese Ministryof Health, Labour and Welfare, the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 ) in Japan is 33.0% in
men and 22.3% in women aged 20 years and older1), with a significant increase in men during thedecade ending in 2019. In addition to diabetes and hypertension, obesity-caused or -associatedhealth problems include serious diseases such as coronary heart disease and cerebral infarction.
Obesity also imposes a substantial economic burden on society. The OECD has reported thatapproximately 8.4% of healthcare expenditures are spent on treating obesity-related diseases in 21 / 2

/ 3 OECD countries. 2) EPD possesses direct reprogramming technology to generate brown
adipocytes from human skin cells. By using this technology, it is possible to create a simple andinexpensive human brown adipocytes model (ciBAs), so that various compounds are applied tociBAs, and the activity (browning) of brown adipocytes is evaluated (screened) and there is apossibility to discover any candidate substances of ingredient for pharmaceuticals and foodpreventing and improving obesity and metabolic diseases.
This time, EPD has concluded a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ and has initiated toexplore useful substances contained in natural products utilizing a drug discovery-oriented plant
database and abundant natural product banks of C-HAS+.

【Reference】
1) Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare The National Health and Nutrition Survey in Japan, 2019https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_14156.html

2) OECD Library The Heavy Burden of Obesity The Economics of Prevention
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/the-heavy-burden-of-obesity/summary/japanese_69eb163d【About EPD Co., Ltd.】EPD Co., Ltd. was established by EPS Creative Health Technology Group Limited in 2021 todevelop its own pipeline of drug discovery in the healthcare field. Through its brown adipocyte
derivative technology, the company aims to contribute to improving people’s health.

【About C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.】
It is a startup company from university established in 2022 to promote the business for natural
products and technology of Kumamoto University. We aim to create a Healthy and Happy Society
harmonized Nature & Life together with the natural resource exploration tools (original natural
products bank, plant information databases oriented toward material development and C-HAS
which is a healthy life expectancy assessment system using C. elegans (nematodes)) as coretechnologies.

Inquiries regarding this matter
EPD Co., Ltd.

C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.

Shinji Kondo

Kyoko Ozawa

E-mail：kondo.shinji385@eps.co.jp

E-mail：info@c-hasplus.co.jp

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