Rakuten Medical Announces New Name "Alluminox™" for its Proprietary Technology Platform

SAN DIEGO, March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Medical, Inc. (Rakuten Medical) has elected to discontinue use of  the name "Illuminox," and to start using a new, evolved name "Alluminox™" for our proprietary, anti-cancer, photoimmunotherapy technology platform, which is comprised of drug, medical device, and other related technologies. This name change will take effect globally from April 1, 2022.

The new name "Alluminox™," pronounced Ay-luminox, is derived from our aspiration to use the power of illumination to deliver what we hope is a knockout blow to cancer cells.  Our overall mission and aspiration is to help brighten the future for cancer patients All over the world.

The original name, "Illuminox," has been challenged in the U.S. over trademark issues. Rakuten Medical desires to use its available financial and human resources to further advance our technology, to help get our treatments to patients and caregivers - rather than using our resources to engage in prolonged litigation.

"While we have a new name — Alluminox™ — for our proprietary technology platform, which combines the power of light with an investigational drug, device, and other related components to develop new, innovative therapies for cancer, our corporate mission, 'to conquer cancer,' remains unchanged. Rakuten Medical will continue to strive to deliver our innovative treatments to as many patients as possible, as rapidly as possible," said Mickey Mikitani, Chief Executive Officer of Rakuten Medical, Inc. 

About Rakuten Medical, Inc.  
Rakuten Medical, Inc. is a global clinical stage biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell-targeting investigational therapies on its Illuminox™ platform, which, in pre-clinical studies have been shown to induce rapid and selective cell killing and tumor necrosis. Outside of Japan, Illuminox therapies have not yet been approved as safe or effective by any regulatory authority. The company's first drug developed on the Illuminox platform, ASP-1929, has received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, and is currently the subject of a global phase 3 clinical trial for recurrent head and neck cancer. Rakuten Medical is committed to its mission to conquer cancer and aims to realize a society where cancer patients can lead fulfilling lives. The company has offices in 5 countries, including the United States, where it is headquartered, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Switzerland. For more information, visit www.rakuten-med.com. 

About Illuminox™ platform  
The Illuminox platform is an investigational platform based on a cancer therapy called photoimmunotherapy, which was developed by Dr. Hisataka Kobayashi and team from the National Cancer Institute in the United States. Rakuten Medical is developing the Illuminox platform as a technology consisting of a drug, device, and other related components. The drug component of the platform consists of a targeting moiety conjugated with one or more dyes leading to selective cell surface binding. The device component consists of a light source that locally illuminates the targeted cells with non-thermal light to transiently activate the drug.  Pre-clinical data have shown that this activation elicits rapid and selective necrosis of targeted cells through a biophysical process that compromises the membrane integrity of the targeted cells. Therapies developed on Illuminox may also result in local and systemic innate and adaptive immune activation due to immunogenic cell death of the targeted cells and/or the removal of immunosuppressive elements within the microenvironment. Outside of Japan, Illuminox therapies have not yet been approved as safe or effective by any regulatory authority. 

Forward Looking Statements  
This press release contains forward looking statements that correspond to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include various risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may cause Rakuten Medical's business plans and results to differ from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these statements. These "forward looking statements" contain information about the status and development of our products, including ASP-1929, the Illuminox platform and IRDye® 700DX, as well as other regulatory and marketing authorization efforts, the potential benefits, efficacy, and safety of ASP-1929 and other therapies created using the Illuminox platform, and the status of regulatory filings. The approval and commercial success of such therapies may not be achieved, and the results and effects shown in pre-clinical studies and data may not be replicated in clinical trials. Such statements may include words such as "expect," "believe," "hope," "estimate," "looks as though," "anticipate," "intend," "may," "suggest," "plan," "strategy," "will," "hopeful," "excited," "do," "aims," "develop" and similar expressions.  Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance.  Furthermore, Rakuten Medical's partnership with Shimadzu does not infer any particular result or achievement for Rakuten Medical. Such forward-looking statements are based upon Rakuten Medical's current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of its business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of Rakuten Medical's control. Rakuten Medical's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. In addition, this press release uses terms such as "hope," "contribute," and "expand" to express opinions about clinical trial data. Ongoing clinical trial studies include various risks and uncertainties, in particular, problems that arise during the manufacturing stage of ASP-1929 or other product candidates, the occurrence of adverse safety events, situations in failure to demonstrate therapeutic benefits, and other various risks and uncertainties, both reasonable and unreasonable. For this reason, actual results, including regulatory approvals and uncertainties in the commercialization process of ASP-1929 or other product candidates, may differ from published information. Except to the extent required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update this or any other forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future developments or events, changes in assumptions, changes in the factors affecting forward-looking statements. If one or more forward-looking statement(s) is updated, no inference should be drawn that additional updates will be made to those or other forward-looking statements. 

SOURCE Rakuten Medical, Inc.