ニュース

PRESS RELEASE

PRISM BioLab raises 1.5 billion yen in Series C fundraising to advance

technologies and programs targeting protein-protein interactions

Eli Lilly and Company, Santec Holdings Corporation participated in the round

TOKYO, Japan, 24 January 2024: -- PRISM BioLab, Co. Ltd. (“PRISM”), a leading discovery and development

biotechnology company designing small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets,

today announced a 1.5 billion yen ($10.3M) fundraise. Funds will be used to refine PRISM’s proprietary

PepMetics® chemistry platform, expand biology and screening capabilities and advance internal pipeline

of PPI inhibitors.

As the numbers of so called “druggable” targets are dwindling, pharma is gradually turning to PPI targets.

Due to frequent involvement in the disease and a sheer number of PPIs, they have long been recognized

as a new frontier for drug discovery but the progress has been hampered by the lack of chemistries that

can successfully address PPI targets. PRISM BioLab has early recognized the importance of PPIs as drug

targets and has spent over a decade developing proprietary PepMetics® chemical scaffolds that mimic

three-dimensional structure of the alpha-helix and beta-turn, peptide structures commonly found in PPI

interphases. Today, PepMetics® chemistry enables systematic and reproducible discovery and

development of drugs targeting PPIs.

"We are confident that our PepMetics® chemistry will become one of the key technologies for the PPI

target field," said Dai Takehara, CEO of PRISM BioLab. "The funds from this financing round will be used to

integrate our PepMetics® chemistry, biology and screening capabilities, to advance our internal pipeline,

and to provide greater value to our existing and future pharma partners. We recognize the importance of

partnerships for the success of new approaches to drug discovery and are fortunate to build a long-term

relationship with Lilly, a top pharma company, as we move the field forward."

Comments from investors

Santec Holdings Corporation Executive Vice President & CTO Changho Chong Ph.D.

We feel confident that PRISM BioLab's promising and unique approach to drug discovery will lead to

breakthrough therapeutic drugs that were previously unattainable. Santec is engaged in the development

of medical imaging devices and early diagnosis utilizing Photonics. We believe that the advancement of