Underwriting of Capital Increase by TKG Therapeutics through Third-Party Allotment

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. (MGC; Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Masashi Fujii) announces that it has underwritten a third-party allotment of new shares issued by TKG Therapeutics, Inc. (TKG; Head Office: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Masaaki Matsui).

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 nucleic acid medicine as a promising market expected to achieve a high rate of growth. MGC is preparing the next medium-term management plan, “Grow UP 2026” starting from fiscal year 2024, and being drafted in the direction of expanding business on “medical/ food” area. 

TKG was established in April 2022, based on research results from the University of Tokyo, with the aim of early commercialization of cancer immunotherapeutics based on innate immunity using nucleic acid synthesis technology. TKG's primary mission is to "improve the treatment of rare and intractable cancers for which there is still no effective treatment".

The funds raised by TKG will be used for the purpose of promoting research and development of new nucleic acid synthesizers as well as pharmaceutical development and non-clinical studies at TKG. TKG-001, which TKG is focusing on developing, is a cancer immunotherapeutic drug (a third generation STING¹⁾ agonist²⁾) that uses hairpin-shaped nucleic acid to selectively target cancer cells and induce innate immunity that causes cell death in diseased cells. It has also been selected for the STS phase (Research and Development for Practical Use (Phase I)) of the "Deep Tech Startup Support Project" of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

With the underwriting of this third-party allotment of new shares, MGC will support the early commercialization of the next-generation cancer drugs, which is under development by TKG.

1) STING (short for stimulator of interferon genes): a protein that plays an important role in the innate immune response to DNA in the cytoplasm. 

2) Agonist: a drug or substance that binds to receptors inside or on the surface of cells and causes the same action as a neurotransmitter, hormone, or other receptor-binding substance.

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