Eisai has formed a joint research agreement with Keio University, located in Tokyo, to discover and develop new drugs targeting dementia. For this collaborative research, a research lab will be established, and researchers from Eisai and Keio University will collaborate to identify and validate drug targets and biomarkers that could potentially lead to the development of therapeutics and preventive medicines for dementia.

Under the agreement, Eisai and Keio University will establish the Eisai-Keio Innovation Lab for Dementia as a base for industry-academia collaboration within Keio University’s Shinanomachi campus in Tokyo. The lab will be an integrated research site for clinical medicine and basic medicine and will be staffed by researchers from both organizations.

At the Innovation Lab, Eisai and Keio University will use an approach that focuses on genetic backgrounds, environmental factors, and protective mechanisms based upon healthy longevity. The lab will perform three functions: clinical omics analysis, utilizing mass spectroscopy technology; data science, utilizing artificial intelligence to determine drug targets; and biological validation, which makes use of human induced pluripotent stem cell technology to advance the study of drug-target biology.

Source: Eisai