The Power of Materials Bringing Innovations to Medical Care
Life science is growing rapidly in importance worldwide as well as within the strategic businesses of the JSR Group.
This section introduces the issues we are working to solve through the use of our materials and reveals a picture of the future we are trying to create.
*1 Companion diagnostics: Tests conducted prior to treatment to find out how each patient reacts to a particular drug,
including effects and side effects of the drug, to aid physicians in making the best therapeutic decisions for each patient
Officer,
General Manager of Diagnostic
Reagent Materials Department
JSR Life Sciences Corporation
Sachiko Kitajima
Our superior technologies and quality create new value for drug discovery
Like stars in outer space, there are a countless living substances in the human body. I feel rewarded when our technologies lead to the discovery of an unknown substance, elucidation of a substance’s function, and development of a new medicine.
JSR Life Sciences Corporation was founded in 2012 by taking over two existing businesses of JSR Corporation—diagnostic reagents and medical polymers—and adding one new business that was still in the pre-commercialization stage at that time—bioprocess materials. It was decided that the biomedical materials businesses would be separated from JSR to realize quicker product development and to strengthen the service and quality assurance system developed specifically for the businesses so as to meet life science-related social needs. As personalized medicine is increasingly becoming the norm, we will focus on the creation of high-quality materials and reagents that are instrumental in detecting biomarkers and genetic mutations, both of which are indicators of disease. Life science is a field in which the JSR Group can fully display its strengths, and I am expecting our business in this area to expand continuously.
Diagnostic reagent materials useful for research on personalized medicine
The JSR Group holds one of the largest stores of polymer particles, a raw material used in
diagnostic reagents, in Japan. Diagnostic reagents, which are used to increase analytic efficiency, are produced by attaching an antibody against a particular substance to polymer particles.
Small exosome particles, which are found in blood, urine, amniotic fluid, and other body fluids, contain many proteins and unknown micro-RNAs (miRNA) and other nucleic acids, and it is expected that the study of exosomes may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.
The JSR Group will market the ExoCapTM kit consisting of exosome capture beads, in which magnetic beads are coupled with antibodies that capture exosomes, as well as reagents used for analysis.
In addition to pursuing optimum exosome isolation methods, we are also planning to extend a lineup of reagents for detecting substances contained in exosomes.
*2 Proteomic analysis: Analyses to clarify the roles of proteins in the body through the in-depth study of their structure and function
Bioprocess materials that change the way of drug development
Antibody drugs, which directly attack disease pathogens, possess high efficacy with few side effects and are beginning to be used for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and rheumatism. AmsphereTM is a product developed on the basis of our proprietary polymer technology, which makes antibody purification faster and more effective during the production of antibody drugs. We will continue to contribute to the development and dissemination of advanced medical technologies.
Antibody purification using AmsphereTM
Global network of life science business
To quickly address new technologies and evolving needs for drug discovery support, the JSR Group is, in addition to refining its own technologies, actively promoting strategic investments and partnerships.
General Manager
J & W Beijing Biotech Co., Ltd.
Kenji Yasuda
J & W Beijing Biotech Co., Ltd.
～Medical support business in the growing Chinese market～
Although the government has star ted to promote the improvement of medical services in rural areas of China, there are still many people who cannot or don’t visit hospitals due to high medical costs, medical insurance problems, and geographical restraints. We therefore aspire to support early detection of disease, improvement of medical services, and reduction of medical costs through our reagent intermediates.
It is projected that markets for latex reagents and chemiluminescent reagents will expand in the future. While we can rely on JSR’s technologies and quality control knowhow accumulated in Japan, we are facing many issues including limited technological level of suppliers and a lack of local sales representatives with sufficient technical knowledge. We are a young company, established only about one year ago, and we will continue to devote ourselves to business in order to become prominent in the Chinese pharmaceutical market.