Axcelead DDP Signs an Agreement with Astellas for HT-ADMET Studies

2025.12.11

Fujisawa, Japan, December 11, 2025 – Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners, Inc. (President & CEO: Kengo Okada, Ph.D.; hereinafter “Axcelead DDP”) today announced it has entered into an agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Naoki Okamura; hereinafter “Astellas”) to conduct HT-ADMET studies* and has officially commenced operations under this agreement.

Axcelead DDP continues to evolve its drug discovery platform originally derived from a pharmaceutical company by integrating cutting-edge technologies to provide drug discovery services. Since its establishment in 2017, Axcelead DDP has provided services to more than 300 drug discovery organizations worldwide, including pharmaceutical companies, biotech ventures and academia, achieving a high rate of repeat business.

Under this agreement, Axcelead DDP will undertake HT-ADMET studies outsourced by Astellas through Axcelead’s proprietary study request and management system.

“We are delighted to have concluded the agreement with Astellas, one of Japan’s leading pharmaceutical companies, for HT-ADMET studies,” said Kengo Okada, Ph.D., President & CEO of Axcelead DDP. “Through this agreement, Astellas will place orders for more than 60 types of HT-ADMET studies via our study request and management system. This system not only enables the convenient online submission of study requests but also allows users to check progress and results at any time. Many domestic pharmaceutical companies are already utilizing this system. As horizontal specialization in drug discovery research advances in Japan, Axcelead DDP will continue to serve as a hub in the ecosystem providing drug discovery platform services, contributing to creating innovative new medicines.”

* HT-ADMET Studies: These are high-throughput (HT) assays that evaluate the absorption (A), distribution (D), metabolism (M), excretion (E), and toxicity (Tox) of candidate compounds. They are essential studies conducted in the early stages of drug discovery research to assess the efficacy, safety, and toxicity of potential drug candidates.

About Axcelead DDP
Axcelead DDP is Japan’s first drug discovery solutions provider, established in July 2017 after inheriting the drug discovery platform from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. We provide comprehensive drug discovery services through a fully integrated research platform that consolidates all essential functions and infrastructure—including a large-scale compound library, screening, chemistry, pharmacology/biology, DMPK and safety—under one roof. Furthermore, by combining our extensive experience and expertise with a proprietary AI platform, we can rapidly generate high-quality, novel drug candidate compounds. This integrated setup enables us to deliver efficient and flexible one-stop solutions through a seamless framework, tailored to meet diverse needs in drug discovery from target identification to bridging into clinical development.
For more information, please visit https://axcelead-us.com/