SBI Holdings, Inc.
SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.
SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Yoshitaka Kitao; “SBI Pharmaceuticals”) is a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Yoshitaka Kitao; “SBIH”) engaging in research and development of pharmaceuticals, health foods and cosmetics using 5-aminolevulinic acid (“5-ALA”) (*1). We are pleased to inform you that a decision has been made for two SBI Pharmaceuticals officers to serve as visiting professors at Fudan University in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. The two officers are Dr. Tohru Tanaka, Director, Executive Officer & CTO (*2) in charge of the 5-ALA research section, and Dr. Motowo Nakajima, Director, Executive Officer & CSO in charge of pharmaceutical research and development (*3).
As announced in the press release dated 11 November 2013, SBIH has been supporting the Fudan University School of Life Sciences, the university’s educational research institution related to biotechnology, to conduct research on 5-ALA to clarify its mechanism to treat diabetes. Having made significant progress in research, Fudan University extended an invitation to the two SBI Pharmaceuticals officers to serve as visiting professors to get their expertise to further advance research on 5-ALA.
The SBI Group will endeavor to help people around the world stay healthy by further identifying the various possibilities of 5-ALA through pursuing R&D jointly with our partners inside and outside Japan.
About Fudan University
Fudan University, a national university with an established reputation in the field of medicine, is a comprehensive research university and has 57 research institutions, 80 interdisciplinary research centers, and 8 attached hospitals which combine medical services, clinical teaching, and science research. The Fudan University School of Life Sciences is one of the top biotechnology educational research institutions in China and has Shanghai Fudan Forward Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Fudan Zhangjiang Biotech Co., Ltd. in the field of medicine. Fudan Zhangjiang Biotech Co., Ltd. has registered and is selling drugs containing 5-ALA (photodynamic therapy drug, treatment of HPV infection) in China.
*1: 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA):
An amino acid created in mitochondria. It is an important substance that serves as protein material related to energy production in the form of heme and cytochromes, and its productivity is known to decrease with age. 5-ALA is contained in food such as shochu distillation remnants and red wine. It is also known as a material forming chloroplasts in plants.
*2: Chief Technical Officer
*3: Chief Scientific Officer
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For further information, please contact:
SBI Holdings, Inc.: Corporate Communications Dept., Tel: +81 3 6229 0126
SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.: Corporate Planning Dept., Tel: +81 3 6229 0095
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