Sosei Heptares Investor R&D Event Highlights Innovative Research and Development Approaches and Strong Pipeline Momentum

TOKYO and LONDON, Sept. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sosei Group Corporation ("the Company"; TSE: 4565) today held an Investor R&D Event in Tokyo, Japan, discussing how the integration of its proprietary StaR® technology and approach to AI and machine learning in structure-based drug discovery at its new state-of-the-art R&D center, positions the Company well to continue delivering high-quality drug candidates, strategic partnerships and strong shareholder value over the long term.

The Company welcomed Professor Yoshinori Fujiyoshi, Japan's leading academic in the field of structural biology, as Keynote Speaker. He presented his insights to drug design based on structure analysis by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Professor Fujiyoshi is a Distinguished Professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Emeritus Professor at Kyoto University.

In addition, select Sosei Heptares scientists showcased the following topics during the event:

• A Day in the Life at Sosei Heptares' UK R&D Center – Dr. Rie Suzuki, Director, Translational Sciences
• The Power of StaR® Technology – Providing a Leadership Advantage in GPCR Drug Design – Dr. Stacey Southall, Associate Director, Head of Biophysics
• Integrating Artificial Intelligence Approaches to Enhance GPCR Drug Discovery – Dr. Chris de Graaf, Director, Head of Computational Chemistry
• R&D Pipeline Update – Translating Cutting-edge Science into New Drug Candidates – Dr. Malcolm Weir, EVP, Chief R&D Officer

The event took place from 9:30-12:30 JST at the Hotel Grand Arc Hanzomon and was video recorded. More information on the presentations and details for accessing the presentation materials and video recordings are below. No new material information was disclosed.

A Day in the Life at Sosei Heptares' UK R&D Center

Dr. Rie Suzuki, Director, Translational Sciences, led a virtual tour of the Company's state-of-the-art UK R&D facilities in Granta Park, Cambridge where it currently employs approximately 120 scientists.

Dr. Suzuki also discussed her involvement in the development of new therapies for gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, one of the Company's core therapeutic areas. She also hosted an interview with Dr. Simon Gabe, a leading UK gastroenterologist consulting at St Mark's Hospital (London, UK), to talk about the devastating physical and emotional burden of GI diseases such as Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and why Sosei Heptares is focussed on such areas of high unmet medical need.

The virtual tour and Dr. Suzuki's interview with Dr. Gabe is available in the CHISHIKI Science Center section of the Sosei Heptares website.

The Power of StaR® Technology – Providing a Leadership Advantage in GPCR Drug Design

Dr. Stacey Southall, Associate Director, Head of Biophysics, described what G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are, why Sosei Heptares targets them and how the Company harnesses the power of its revolutionary StaR® technology to give it a unique advantage in GPCR drug design.

In-depth examples of how StaR® technology has been successfully employed were presented, with specific references to important GPCR drug targets, including the PAR2 receptor and Adenosine A2a receptor. Application of this technology as part of a comprehensive structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform has led to, and continues to attract, a large number of strategic multi-target collaborations and partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies.

Looking into the future, Dr. Southall explained how StaR® proteins are at the heart of exploiting powerful emerging technologies such as cryo-EM.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence Approaches to Enhance GPCR Drug Discovery

Dr. Chris de Graaf, Director, Head of Computational Chemistry, delved into the exciting topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in drug discovery and how Sosei Heptares will use these cutting-edge approaches to enhance its drug design capabilities and extend its competitive advantage in GPCR-focused SBDD. Despite being a relatively new area, AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry and improve patient treatment over the next 10-20 years.

Sosei Heptares is actively exploring the application of Computational and AI approaches to improve GPCR drug discovery in defined areas including: StaR® construct design, ligand or drug design, pharmacology/pharmacokinetics prediction, and target and disease indication selection.

R&D Pipeline Update – Translating Cutting-edge Science into New Drug Candidates

Dr. Malcolm Weir, EVP, Chief R&D Officer, outlined the Company's strong business momentum and how its continued investment in innovative GPCR SBDD technology will maintain Sosei Heptares' world leadership status into the future.

Dr. Weir explored some of the specific diseases and health issues that Sosei Heptares is addressing to develop new therapies and build a better life for patients, together with an update of the Company's most advanced programs, including partnered programs with Allergan and AstraZeneca, and in-house programs mGlu5, SSTR5, CGRP and GPR35.

Presentations and Video Recordings

The Investor R&D Event was video recorded and will be accessible from the Presentations and Webcasts section of Sosei Heptares' website. All presentations by Sosei Heptares scientists are now available and video recordings will be made available a few days following the event.

About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the design and development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, immuno-oncology, gastroenterology, inflammation and other rare/specialty indications. Our leading clinical programs include partnered candidates aimed at the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease (with Allergan) and next-generation immuno-oncology approaches to treat cancer (with AstraZeneca). Our additional partners and collaborators include Takeda, Genentech, Novartis, Pfizer, Daiichi-Sankyo, PeptiDream, Kymab, MorphoSys. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

"Sosei Heptares" is the corporate brand of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).

For more information, please visit https://www.soseiheptares.com/

LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco

Enquiries:

Sosei Heptares 
Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Shinichiro Nishishita, Mai Kurokawa
+81-(0)-3-5210-3399
[email protected]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for Japanese media) 
Yas Fukuda
+81-(3)-4360-9241
[email protected]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for International media)
Mark Swallow, David Dible
+44-(0)-20-7638-9571
[email protected]

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporation's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Sosei Heptares