FRONTEO Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Masahiro Morimoto, hereinafter FRONTEO) has announced that it will start a new drug discovery support service, "Drug Discovery AI Factory", in the life science AI field. increase.

　Our research and development team, which has a wealth of knowledge in AI and drug discovery, uses the in-house developed AI engine "KIBIT" and the analysis method "Drug Discovery Best Known Method (DD-BKM)" that makes full use of applications. established.By using innovative and highly original analysis methods such as overlapped difference analysis, virtual experiments, and multifaceted analysis (all of which are patent pending), AI and researchers will be able to analyze information from research papers and gene networks related to diseases. However, we select and evaluate highly novel drug discovery targets, including information that has not been reported in papers, etc., and generate hypotheses for them.Now that the method and provision system for this service are in place, and the patent application for the main method has been completed, we have decided to start this business in earnest.

　In pharmaceutical research and development, only 2/3 to 1/10 of the target molecules that appear promising in the early stages of development actually make it into pharmaceutical products, and the development period is 15 to 1000 years. The problem is that it requires about XNUMX billion yen in development costs.Furthermore, in recent years, against the backdrop of the increasing sophistication and difficulty of research and development, pharmaceutical companies are actively promoting collaboration with academia and venture companies in order to secure promising seeds and diversify investment risks.

　The drug discovery support business market will reach US$2026 billion in 314¹⁾(approximately 4.1 trillion yen*), and in particular, the target selection/evaluation market, which is at the forefront of research aimed at developing innovative new drugs and has a significant impact on the success rate of drug discovery, is worth 70.8 billion yen. USD¹⁾(approximately 9200 billion yen*).On the other hand, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare sees the lack of progress in the use of AI in the target selection process as the use of AI in drug development is being promoted.²⁾.

　The Drug Discovery AI Factory business is a new drug discovery support service that brings innovation to hypothesis generation related to target selection/evaluation.Drug discovery researchers who have extensive drug discovery experience cultivated at major pharmaceutical companies and international research institutes and a deep understanding of AI have achieved high novelty, high throughput, and high coverage by making full use of KIBIT and AI applications. We will continue to provide analysis and proposals that contribute to the efficiency, acceleration, and success rate improvement of our customers' drug discovery research.We provide innovative solutions in a short period of time to meet a variety of customer needs, such as searching for target molecules and biomarkers, elucidating mechanisms, proposing new indications, and evaluating seeds.

　Hiroyoshi Toyoshiba, Executive Officer of Drug Discovery AI Factory, who leads this project, commented as follows.
“In drug discovery research, the process of accurately narrowing down target molecule candidates has not yet been established as an efficient method, and the current situation is that it depends on the individual efforts of each researcher. As I was involved in drug discovery research at a pharmaceutical company, I felt that this was a major issue.The AI ​​algorithms, applications, and analysis methods specialized in the life science field developed by FRONTEO are innovative ways to solve this issue. We are pleased to be able to start this project with the functions, know-how, and system to provide analysis solutions based on a scientific approach together with researchers with extensive experience in drug discovery. ”

　FRONTEO will continue to contribute to the development of drug discovery research and business and the improvement of medical quality through research, development and provision of AI solutions and analysis technology.

1)　https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000003057.000071640.html
2)　https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10601000/000926770.pdf

* Calculated at 1 US dollar = 130 yen

■ About FRONTEO　URL:https://www.fronteo.com/
FRONTEO is a data analysis company that provides various AI solutions and services using the in-house developed AI engine "KIBIT". Based on the philosophy of "providing solutions that do not overlook risks and opportunities buried in records and realizing fairness in the information society," extract meaningful and important information from vast amounts of text data and complex networks. Our strengths are natural language processing and network analysis technologies that support advanced judgments by experts.We are developing businesses in the areas of legal tech AI, business intelligence, life science AI, and economic security, and contributing to solving various corporate and social issues. Founded in August 2003, listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers (currently Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth) on June 8, 2007.The company operates in Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.Acquisition of first-class medical device manufacturing and sales business license, notification of controlled medical device sales business.Capital 6 yen (as of March 26, 3,042,317).

*FRONTEO, KIBIT, and Amanogawa are registered trademarks of FRONTEO in Japan.