Showa Denko Materials and the Drug Development Startup TAGCyx Sign a Commissioned Development Agreement on Regenerative Medicine Technologies
News Release
Showa Denko Materials Co., Ltd.
TAGCyx Biotechnologies Inc.
November 17, 2020
Showa Denko Materials and the Drug Development Startup TAGCyx Sign a Commissioned Development Agreement on Regenerative Medicine Technologies
Showa Denko Materials Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Hisashi Maruyama; hereinafter “Showa Denko Materials”) and TAGCyx Biotechnologies Inc. (CEO: Chizuko Koseki; hereinafter “TAGCyx”) announce the signing of a commissioned development agreement on October 12, 2020 to apply TAGCyx’s proprietary technology to the regenerative medicine field.
TAGCyx is a venture firm developing DNA aptamer drugs based on its proprietary artificial nucleic acid base pair technology.* Aptamers are nucleic acid molecules (DNA or RNA) or peptides that bind three-dimensionally to specific molecules, and can be used as medications by acting specifically on target proteins in the same way as antibody drugs. TAGCyx developed “Xenoligo®” aptamers with high affinity and specificity for proteins, and utilizes this technology to generate drugs and conduct joint development with pharmaceutical companies.
Showa Denko Materials acquired 100 percent ownership of Minaris Regenerative Medicine, LLC (former PCT, LLC, a Caladrius Company), a leading contract manufacturer of regenerative medicine products in the United States, in May 2017, and has been expanding its regenerative medicine contract manufacturing business globally. Showa Denko Materials is also developing expendable supplies for regenerative medicine, such as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell culture media, along with innovative new products applicable to next-generation therapeutic modalities in the regenerative medicine field.
Under this commissioned development agreement, Showa Denko Materials will commission TAGCyx with the development of new technologies related to regenerative medicine by applying the Xenoligo® platform. The two companies aim to create safe and highly effective cell therapy preparations based on the outcomes of their joint development project.
*Artificial nucleic acid base pair technology involves a system that adds a third artificial base pair to two natural DNA base pairs (adenine (A) paired with thymine (T) and guanine (G) paired with cytosine (C)), with research and development advancing worldwide as technologies innovating basic systems in molecular biology. Among them, TAGCyx’s proprietary artificial base pairing technology leads the world providing high fidelity amplification capability in polymerase chain reaction (PCR).