Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Veritas In Silico start to discuss the research collaboration of RNA targeting drug discovery program

　Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. (MGC; Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Masashi Fujii) and Veritas In Silico Inc. (VIS; Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President: Shingo Nakamura) announced that both companies started to discuss the collaboration of research, development and manufacturing of innovative oligonucleotide therapeutics targeting RNA.  

　For years, there have been concerns about the decrease of druggable proteins. In view of this, mRNAs have been attracting attention as important drug targets.   
　Oligonucleotide therapeutics, mRNA medicines, and mRNA-targeted small molecule drug discovery are areas that still require technological development and currently do not fully meet a wide range of medical needs.
　MGC has set “medical/ food” as one of target areas in “Grow UP 2023”, the medium-term management plan, and starts several projects on this area.  MGC recognizes that oligonucleotide therapeutics is one of promising treatments in medical field, and is investing in VIS from 2017.  MGC is preparing the next medium-term management plan, “Grow UP 2026”, and being drafted in the direction of expanding business on “medical/ food” area.

　As a pathfinder in mRNA-targeted drug discovery, VIS is exploring the novel methodology for mRNA-targeted therapeutics with its proprietary ibVIS™ drug discovery platform, which consists of in silico target identification in any mRNA, robust and quantitative high-throughput screening, and a variety of drug discovery technologies optimized for mRNA-targeted medicines. We believe that ibVIS™ platform will be also effective in the discovery of oligonucleotide therapeutics and mRNA medicines.

　Both MGC and VIS start to discuss the collaboration of research, development and manufacturing of innovative oligonucleotide therapeutics targeting RNA, using ibVIS™ platform by VIS.

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