Our Technology
Today, we are faced with a plethora of social issues such as an aging society, increasing lifestyle-related diseases, and soaring medical costs. However, due to the enormous cost, time, and effort involved in new drug development, these issues are not being adequately addressed. This is because the conventional new drug development methods using cultured cells, mice, and patient samples make it difficult to achieve an efficient drug discovery process. Instead, we use Drosophila (fruit flies), which is easy, fast, and inexpensive to raise and breed, has no ethical hurdles, and has similar genes and drug responses to mammals. Specifically, we provide drug discovery support services and licenses for in-house developed lead compounds for various diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, rheumatism, and diabetes.
Based on research results from Hokkaido University (Sonoshita Lab, Komatsuzaki Lab), the University of Tokyo (Goda Lab), and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Cagan Lab), we launched the company with the support of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)'s START program and CREST program, the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)'s drug discovery program, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)'s core-to-core program.
News
Sep, 2023: We successfully launched FlyWorks.
Mar, 2022: We won Grand Prize at Photonics Challenge 2022
Feb, 2022: We won Award of Excellence at NEDO Technology Commercialization Program 2021
Feb, 2022: We won VC Award at NEDO Technology Commercialization Program 2021
Oct, 2021: We won Award of Excellence at NoMaps Dream Pitch 2021
Oct, 2021: We won NEDO Award at NoMaps Dream Pitch 2021
Oct, 2021: We obtained a grant from JST START Program
Drosophila is 1000 times cheaper than mice (less than 1 cent/fly)
Drosophila reproduces 50 times more than mice (about 20 flies/day)
Drosophila reproduces the next generation 10 times faster than mice (about 10 days/generation)
Drug discovery can be achieved 100 times more efficiently than conventional methods
In conventional new drug development, cultured cells, mice, and patient samples are used, but each of these methods has its own intrinsic problems that make efficient drug discovery difficult. Specifically, the following problems exist.
Although the culture operation is simple, it is difficult to reproduce the internal environment, such as the three-dimensional structure and function of organs, and thus it is difficult to mimic individual-specific phenomena (such as the behavior of drugs in the body).
It is possible to reproduce the disease by modifying the gene, but it is difficult to conduct large-scale analysis (e.g., comparative study of multiple drugs) because of the huge cost and effort required for breeding and raising.
We can analyze the patient's disease itself, but because this method can probe a specific aspect of the disease, it is difficult to conduct genetic manipulation experiments to find the cause of the disease or drug administration experiments to find a therapeutic drug candidate.
Drosophila has many advantages: it can be handled with simple equipment, it is inexpensive (1000 times cheaper than mice), it can reproduce many generations in a short time (10 times faster than mice), and there are no ethical hurdles. By overcoming the fundamental problems of conventional drug discovery methods, we search for therapeutic agents at the individual level, which has been difficult in the past, and achieve extremely efficient drug discovery.
One of the successful examples of new drug development using Drosophila is vandetanib, a molecularly targeted drug for medullary thyroid cancer. Specifically, there was no useful mouse model that mimicked the RET gene abnormality (RET[M918T]) observed in medullary thyroid cancer patients, but Regius Professor Ross Cagan at the University of Glasgow (our technical advisor) succeeded in creating the first animal model using flies. ZD6474 prolonged recurrence-free survival of patients and was approved as the first molecularly targeted drug called vandetanib for this cancer. Prof. Sonoshita (our board member) of Hokkaido University has also developed the first model fly library that mimics various genotypes of pancreatic cancer and successfully identified new therapeutic drug candidates (international patent pending, to be granted to us).
What we offer
We undertake individual-level evaluations (compound screening, genetic screening, identification of disease-causing signaling networks, etc.) on behalf of our clients for diseases for which they wish to create drugs, and provide evaluation results promptly.
We provide information and usage licenses for in-house developed lead compounds that target various diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, rheumatism, and diabetes.
Founders, leaders, and engineers
Our answers to your questions
In the way diseases occur, Drosophila and mammals are similar. In fact, Drosophila possesses more than 75% of the genes that have been found to be abnormal in human diseases such as cancer. By reproducing those genetic abnormalities, it is possible to mimic diseases.
In terms of drug response, Drosophila and mammals are similar. In Drosophila, drugs can be easily administered by mixing them with food. The behavior of drugs in the body and the mechanism by which drugs work are similar to those of mammals.
Although there were no useful mouse models that mimic the RET gene abnormality (RET[M918T]) observed in medullary thyroid cancer patients, Regius Professor Ross at the University of Glasgow (our technical advisor) succeeded in creating the first animal model using flies. ZD6474 prolonged recurrence-free survival in patients and was approved as the first molecularly targeted drug vandetanib for this cancer.