Nissan Chemical and Axcelead DDP Enter into License Agreement for DNA-Encoded Library (DEL)

2026.02.24

Tokyo and Fujisawa, Japan – February 24, 2026 – Nissan Chemical Corporation (Headquarter: Tokyo, Japan; Representative Director, President: Yagi Shinsuke; hereinafter “Nissan Chemical”) and Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners, Inc. (Headquarter: Fujisawa, Kanagawa; Representative Director, President and CEO: Okada Kengo, Ph.D.; hereinafter “Axcelead DDP”) today announced that the two companies have entered into a license agreement enabling Axcelead DDP to provide drug discovery services using Nissan Chemical’s proprietary  DNA-Encoded Library* (DEL) technology and DEL.

Nissan Chemical has developed a proprietary DEL technology that significantly reduces false positives and false negatives compared with conventional DEL approaches, thereby enhancing the robustness and reliability of screening results. Leveraging libraries of small molecules and cyclic peptides generated with this technology, the company is advancing the discovery of innovative targeting ligands for breakthrough pharmaceuticals through its in-house drug discovery programs and collaborations with a wide range of drug discovery partners. Under the new agreement, Nissan Chemical will receive consideration based on Axcelead DDP’s use of the DEL technology and DEL owned by Nissan Chemical.

Axcelead DDP is a drug discovery solutions provider with a platform originating from a major pharmaceutical company. By combining its own development capabilities with strategic partnerships, Axcelead DDP continuously evolves its drug discovery platform and delivers a wide range of drug discovery services to diverse drug discovery players. The license enables Axcelead DDP to conduct large-scale compound screening using Nissan Chemical’s DELs, and the combination of this capability with Axcelead DDP’s experience and know-how in drug discovery will strengthen its ability to generate candidate compounds for difficult targets, particularly peptide therapeutics and targeted protein degraders.

Axcelead DDP will begin providing drug discovery services using Nissan Chemical’s DELs starting in February, 2026. In addition, Axcelead DDP will receive technical information related to Nissan Chemical’s DEL technology, and will develop its own proprietary DELs. Axcelead DDP plans to launch advanced drug discovery services targeting highly challenging targets—leveraging both companies’ DEL technologies—within fiscal year 2026.

*DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) technology: A drug discovery technology that enables the simultaneous screening of billions of compounds by attaching a unique DNA tag to each molecule. Because compounds that bind to a target protein can be identified through their DNA sequence information, the technology allows for rapid and efficient hit discovery.

About Nissan Chemical Corporation
Nissan Chemical Corporation contributes to solving social issues providing products and services through four business areas – Performance materials, Agricultural chemicals, Chemicals, and Healthcare. We will acquire new technologies and accelerate growth in each business area by improving and combining core technologies.
Additional information is available at www.nissanchem.co.jp/

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/