In-Vivo Science and Axcelead DDP Entered into Cooperative Agreement for Drug Discovery Services Using Disease Model Animals

2023.12.13

In-Vivo Science, Inc. (Headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; Branch Office: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President: Koji Yoshimura; hereinafter “In-Vivo Science”) and Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners, Inc. (Headquarters: Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President & CEO: Nobuhiko Yamada; hereinafter “Axcelead DDP”) announce that we have now entered into a cooperative agreement for drug discovery services using disease model animals.

In-Vivo Science globally supplies a wide range of disease model animals including NOG mice* and humanized mice, developed based on technology by the Central Institute for Experimental Animals (hereinafter, “CIEA”), and possesses know-how and information on experiments based on CIEA’s abundant experience and technology. Axcelead DDP employs more than 200 researchers experienced in drug discovery and provides drug discovery services pharmacological evaluation for various modalities and diseases to a variety of drug discovery players such as pharmaceutical companies, bio-ventures, and academia.

Under this agreement, the cooperation between In-Vivo Science, with a wealth of information including know-how and practical knowledge on experiments using disease model animals, and Axcelead DDP, with outstanding technology regarding drug discovery using disease model animals, will be able to provide more robust in vivo evaluations that meet our customer needs more quickly. This agreement will also allow Axcelead DDP to gain expertise and technology concerning the characteristics and construction of humanized mouse models from In-Vivo Science and further enhance its capability for constructing disease model animals.

Koji Yoshimura, President of In-Vivo Science, said “This cooperation will enable the abundant talents of Axcelead DDP, a drug discovery solution provider, and its technical excellence to merge with In-Vivo Science’s know-how and information obtained based on the experience of CIEA researchers, and I expect this collaboration will bring a major transformation in the research using severely immunodeficient mice, especially humanized mice. I’m really excited for Axcelead DDP to be able to widely conduct research studies using NOG and other mice that require specific knowledge.”

Masayuki Ii, PhD, CSO of Axcelead DDP, said “I’m delighted that we’ll be able to cooperate in drug discovery services with In-Vivo Science, which provides a variety of high-quality disease model animals as well as having extensive experience and information related to experiments. The development of drug candidates using disease model animals that can be highly extrapolated to humans is expected to expedite drug discovery and lead to improvements in the probability of success. We at Axcelead DDP will continue to contribute to the creation of innovative new drugs while responding to the diverse needs of drug discovery players.”

*NOG mice: A strain of mice developed by interbreeding a NOD-scid mouse with an IL-2 receptor γ-chain (a common domain of several cytokine receptors) knockout mouse. With a significantly high rate of engraftment of human tissues when compared with that of NOD-scid mice, NOG mice are widely used for animal models in drug discovery, such as tumor-bearing mouse models and humanized immune system mouse models.

About In-Vivo Science
In-Vivo Science was established in 2006 to provide “severely immunodeficient NOG mice, genetically modified next-generation NOG mice, and humanized mice (hereinafter referred to as NOG-related mice)” developed by the Central Institute for Experimental Animals. In-Vivo Science supports our customers to achieve better research outcomes with NOG-related mice along with information, including experimental know-how. https://www.invivoscience.com/en/index.html

About Axcelead DDP
Axcelead DDP is the first integrated drug discovery solutions provider in the pharmaceutical industry in Japan, having succeeded the drug discovery research capabilities of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and started its business in July, 2017. The company provides integrated services, from discovery of drug targets to optimization of small- and medium-molecule drug candidates, in which the company has particular expertise, and to the process of bridging the gap to clinical development. For more information, please visit https://www.axcelead.com/en/