Veritas In Silico Inc. (Representative Director and CEO: Shingo Nakamura; Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo) announced today that it has entered into a joint research agreement with Kowa Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Yoshihiro Miwa; Head Office: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; hereafter “Kowa”), a global enterprise with more than 120 years of history in the research, development, and manufacturing of OTC drugs, ethical drugs, and medical equipment, to develop novel small molecule drugs targeting mRNA.

Veritas In Silico’s drug discovery platform, ibVIS, enables the development of small molecule and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) drugs targeting mRNA structural motifs, which have been identified by its proprietary in silico technology. The company has already launched joint research projects on mRNA-targeted drug discovery with multiple pharmaceutical companies. Its post-genomic database of human, mouse, and rat mRNA structural motifs, “Kizashi 1.1,” has recently been made available to its collaborators to whom highly probable druggable motifs, categorized according to disease type, will be proposed. The experience cultivated through the company’s research projects and its cutting-edge platform technology were regarded as beneficial for the drug discovery aimed at by Kowa, leading to the signing of the joint research agreement between two companies.

In the agreement, Veritas In Silico will identify target motifs on the mRNAs selected by Kowa and establish a screening system for small molecule compounds, which specifically interact with the target motifs. Kowa will perform screening assays to identify hit compounds from its own chemical library. Together, the two companies will confirm and evaluate the hit compounds. Veritas In Silico will also cooperate with Kowa in the lead generation and optimization processes.

“We believe that the synergy between Kowa’s flexible and original technologies and our drug discovery platform will lead to the creation of innovative drug candidates,” said Shingo Nakamura. “We are confident that Kowa’s advanced R&D capabilities and strong manufacturing and sales network will accelerate delivery of new mRNA-targeted drugs to patients with unmet medical needs.”

Veritas In Silico signs joint research agreement with Kowa to develop mRNA-targeted novel small molecule drugs (PDF)