Alliance with University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo and Astellas also entered into an agreement with similar aim to discover a new drug for the treatment of NTD caused by protozoan parasites. Professor Kiyoshi Kita, biomedical chemistry, International Health, Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, and Astellas will select target molecules for drug discovery through experiments and verifications on the validity of plural target candidate molecules, which are expected to be suitable for discovery of compounds against protozoan parasites.

The research will be divided into two stages on the process of the implementation. The first stage aims for selection of multiple potential candidate target molecules for discovery of drugs against protozoan parasites in the collaboration between the department of biomedical chemistry and Astellas. The department has its history of results in investigation on molecular characteristics of enzymes among protozoan parasites, development of low-molecular drugs, and research on NTDs. On this stage, Astellas will select potential candidate target molecules based on currently available information (human genome information, three-dimensional structure of protein, and information on compounds against protozoan parasites) useful for anti-parasite drug discovery, in addition to information and data that the department of Biomedical Chemistry has accumulated over many years.

In the second stage, the University of Tokyo will verify the validity of candidate target molecules and select target molecules for drug discovery by using genetic engineering (for example gene overexpression strains and gene disrupted strains) and biochemical methods (for example construction of enzyme reaction systems) with regard to the possibility of candidate target molecules for anti-parasitic therapy, and the feasibility of drug discovery research.