Asahi Kasei Pharma calls for applications for open innovation

Asahi Kasei Pharma, a subsidiary of the diversified Japanese multinational company Asahi Kasei, is publicly calling for new proposals for drug development research.

The open innovation programme forms part of its efforts to promote pharmaceutical research and development through enhanced cooperation with universities, research institutes and enterprises worldwide. The application period begins at 05:00 GMT on 5 January 2023 and ends at 08:00 GMT on 28 February 2023. 

Asahi Kasei Pharma established its Open Innovation Department in October 2016 with the mission to strengthen and enhance global licensing and alliance-building activities. Since then, it has funded around five proposals per year on average with a total of over 20 funded proposals for state-of-the-art pharmaceutical drug developments as well as collected a wealth of creative new ideas. The Open In-novation team is seeking to fund innovative proposals from researchers around the world for up to $200 000 per year, per project for this upcoming round in 2023.

Asahi Kasei Pharma will then pursue joint research opportunities with the drug discovery researchers together with their parent institutions in hopes to create new innovative drugs for diseases that currently have unmet needs or pioneer new platform technologies for drug discovery. 

Pioneering in drug development

Asahi Kasei Pharma has demonstrated a successful track record in developing new drugs in the realms of auto-immune, renal, neurological and bone disease, so the organisation can provide the greatest contribution from correlating research areas and subjects. 

“Asahi Kasei Pharma believes that nobody should have to give up what they would like to do because of illness,” says Osamu Matsuzaki, primary executive officer and head of R&D and business development at Asahi Kasei Pharma. “We believe great science comes from working together, and we are excited for the opportunity to accomplish this mission with researchers all over the world.” 

Open Innovation works to establish research collaborations related to innovative drug targets and candidate drug compounds up to the preclinical stage as well as advanced drug discovery technologies. Advancements in exploring a new mechanism of action for treating refractory autoimmune disease is one of the most promising outcomes of the research so far, with many more on the horizon. Asahi Kasei believes that these continued efforts to advance drug discovery and research technology will further contribute to life and living for people worldwide. 

Outline of the call for proposals 

Target applicants: 

Researchers at universities, research institutes and enterprises outside of Japan (researchers based in Japan should refer to the Japanese website).

Research areas and subjects: 

1. Autoimmune disease – new drug candidates and new drug development technologies 

2. Renal disease – new drug candidates and new drug development technologies 

3. Pain and neurodegenerative disease – new drug candidates and new drug development technologies 

4. Bone disease – new drug candidates 

5. Platform technologies for drug discovery – drug formulation, analysis methods and organic synthesis 

Funding is up to $200 000 per year for each selected proposal 

Research period

One to three years (milestones will be set for each year and the content of the research will be reviewed as needed based on the research results).

Submissions will be assessed with respect to their potential as concepts for collaborative research and fostering of research. Further information is available on Asahi Kasei Pharma’s Open Innovation website.