FRONTEO Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Board of Director and President: Masahiro Morimoto; hereinafter referred to as "FRONTEO") is pleased to announce that it has begun a co-creation project with Maruho Co., Ltd. (Head office: Kita-ku, Osaka; Representative Board of Director and President: Jun Sugita; hereinafter referred to as "Maruho") to explore drug discovery targets in the field of dermatology using the AI ​​drug discovery support service "Drug Discovery AI Factory (hereinafter referred to as "DDAIF")."

Challenges in drug discovery and the significance of this project
　In the field of drug discovery, the diversification and complexity of target diseases has created a need for the discovery of highly novel target molecules and mechanisms that are difficult to explore using traditional research methods.In addition, it is said that there is a gap in processes and knowledge between dry research (data analysis) using AI and wet research (biological verification) using cells and animals, which has been an obstacle to improving the speed and success rate of research and development.
　In response to these challenges, FRONTEO and Maruho have launched a co-creation project using the AI ​​drug discovery support service "DDAIF" to discover targets in drug discovery. Unlike typical outsourcing formats, researchers from both companies will work closely together from the early stages of the project, and by utilizing "DDAIF," the project will be able to move to wet research at the optimal timing through the search for novel target molecules and early hypothesis generation, aiming to improve the speed of R&D and the success rate.
　In this project, Maruho, a pharmaceutical company specializing in dermatology that has continued to respond to the needs of many patients suffering from skin diseases since its founding through drug research, development, production, and information provision activities, and FRONTEO, which has developed an AI drug discovery support service called "DDAIF" by a research team well versed in drug discovery and AI, and has strengths in discovering highly novel targets and generating hypotheses, will combine the knowledge and technologies of both companies to aim to create innovative pharmaceuticals by improving the efficiency and success rate of drug discovery in the field of dermatology.

Comment from Hiroyoshi Toyoshiba, FRONTEO Board of Director/CTO
"Maruho's drug discovery approach, which focuses on the dermatology field and takes a patient-centric perspective while also focusing deeply on biology, has a high technical affinity with FRONTEO's target discovery method using natural language processing, and we expect it will lead to interesting results. FRONTEO's DDAIF is a service that brings together drug discovery researchers and AI engineers to search for new targets from vast amounts of information and generate hypotheses. We are truly pleased to be able to work with Maruho to create innovative medicines that satisfy unmet medical needs."
　 * Need for new drugs and treatments for diseases for which no effective treatment has been found

About Maruho Co., Ltd.　 URL: https://www.maruho.co.jp/
Headquartered in Kita-ku, Osaka, the company is a pharmaceutical company engaged in research, development, manufacturing, and sales of prescription drugs. Founded in 1915, the company has 1,620 employees (as of the end of September 2024). Its sales for the fiscal year ending September 9 were 2024 million yen. Its mission is "Bring more smiles to your life," and it aims to create a society where everyone can live with a smile.

About FRONTEO DDAIF
URL: https://lifescience.fronteo.com/products/drug-discovery-ai-factory/
"FRONTEO Drug Discovery AI Factory (DDAIF)" is an AI drug discovery support service that combines the knowledge of FRONTEO's drug discovery researchers and AI engineers with "KIBIT" (patented in Japan and the US), an AI specialized in natural language processing. It strongly supports researchers' decision-making in drug development by analyzing disease-related gene networks and building hypotheses about target candidates.
The service has already been introduced at several major pharmaceutical companies and is accumulating a proven track record.

■About FRONTEO's co-creation project
In general AI-based drug discovery solutions, the results of dry research (data analysis) and wet research (biological testing using cells, animals, etc.) are often submitted without active exchange of opinions or sharing of sensitive information between the companies in charge of the latter. This is one of the reasons why a smooth transition to wet validation cannot be made.
In this important process of moving from dry to wet, the co-creation project aims to create deliverables that maximize the synergistic effects of incorporating the knowledge and technologies possessed by both FRONTEO and the client company's drug discovery researchers through close collaboration (co-creation) across boundaries.
It is expected that this initiative will also contribute significantly to improving the success rate of clients' drug development in similar projects currently under discussion with multiple pharmaceutical companies.

[Reference: Co-creation project with pharmaceutical companies]
・ Metagene Therapeutics and FRONTEO begin joint research into microbiome drug discovery, which is attracting worldwide attention. https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250630
・ FRONTEO and Chugai Pharmaceutical launch co-creation project for target discovery using Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250515
・ EA Pharma and FRONTEO launch co-creation project to explore drug discovery targets using AI,
https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250512
・ FRONTEO and Eisai launch co-creation project for target discovery using Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250128
・ FRONTEO and Maruishi Pharmaceutical launch a co-creation project for biomarker discovery using Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250109
・ FRONTEO and UBE launch co-creation project on drug repositioning using Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20241114

[Reference: Joint research projects with academia]
・ FRONTEO and Tokyo University of Science begin joint research into discovering new drug discovery targets using the Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250513
・ FRONTEO and Kumamoto University begin joint research to discover new cancer treatments using Drug Discovery AI Factory, https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20250508

■ About FRONTEO Co., Ltd.　URL: https://www.fronteo.com/
FRONTEO supports the judgment of experts in various fields who face social issues day and night through the provision of its proprietary specialized AI "KIBIT," and creates the starting point for innovation. Unlike general-purpose AI, our proprietary natural language processing technology (patented in Japan, the United States, and Europe) enables high-speed and high-precision analysis without relying on the amount of training data or computing power. In addition, by utilizing patented technology that maps (visualizes the structure) the analyzed information, "KIBIT" can directly influence the insights of experts, and in recent years, KIBIT's technology has also been used in hypothesis generation and target discovery in drug discovery.

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