SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.
SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Yoshitaka Kitao; “SBI Pharmaceuticals”), a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc., engaged in research and development of pharmaceuticals, health foods and cosmetics using 5-aminolevulinic acid (“5-ALA”)*, hereby announces that a patent has recently been registered in Japan for an agent for promoting graft survival.
This patent was filed jointly with National Center for Child Health and Development, (Main office:Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; President: Takashi Igarashi).
Patent number: 5907357
Title of invention : E nhancer of survival of transplanted organ
Assignee : SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and National Center for Child Health and
Development
Filing date: September 12 , 201 2
As a curative treatment for such severe organ failure that can be cured by neither internal therapy nor surgical therapy, organ transplantation has come to be conducted in recent years. In the organ transplantation, it is important to diagnose the tissue compatibility between an organ donor and an organ recipient. Depending on the degree of compatibility, an immunosuppressive agent is used to manage the rejection for engrafting (i.e. the transplanted organ by surgical operation functions in the recipient’s body). Since the immunosuppressive agent must be taken over a long time, it may cause adverse effects, such as an infectious disease and kidney damage.
We have found the rejection is alleviated and engraftment of the transplanted organ is promoted, unlike existing immunosuppressive agents, by the administration of 5-ALA alone or a composition containing 5-ALA and iron compound to both a donor before transplantation and a recipient after transplantation for a short period. This has resulted in the registration of the above-mentioned patent.
SBI Pharmaceuticals will continue to pursue various potential applications of 5-ALA, and focus on research and development to provide pharmaceuticals that satisfy the unmet medical needs of as many people as possible around the world.
*: 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)
An amino acid produced in mitochondria. It is an important substance that serves as a functional molecule 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 lees, red wine and Asian ginseng. It is also known as a material forming chloroplasts in plants.
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SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.: Corporate Planning Dept., Tel: +81-3-6229-0095
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