Innovation Kyoto 2021 Investment Limited Partnership" ("KYOTO-iCAP No.2 Fund"), with Kyoto University Innovation Capital Corporation ("Kyoto iCAP") (Head Office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Kimi Kusumi) as general partner, has made a new investment in Link Therapeutics Co. ("Link Tx") (Head office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Yoshiko Abe).

Outline of this investment
Link Tx is a biotech company established in October 2022 with the support of Kyoto iCAP, based on the research results of Dr. Masahiro Shiokawa, Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, and others.

Link Tx was established to contribute to the development of medicine and the health of patients through research and development to elucidate the pathogenesis of diseases caused by autoantibodies and to create therapeutic tools targeting autoantibodies. Dr. Shiokawa and his colleagues have previously found that autoantibodies against integrin αVβ6 (anti-integrin αVβ6 antibodies) are highly expressed in patients with ulcerative colitis (Kuwada etal. (2021). This anti-integrin αVβ6 antibody was thought to block the binding between epithelial cells and basement membrane by integrin αVβ6 expressed on colon epithelial cells and fibronectin expressed on the basement membrane of connective tissue, which may cause the colon epithelium to detach and form ulcers. Currently, Kyoto University is conducting further research on anti-integrin αVβ6 antibody as a possible causative autoantibody for ulcerative colitis.

Link Tx has decided to discuss with Assistant Professor Shiokawa and his colleagues the commercialization of the project based on the results of Kyoto University's research to create a new medical tool targeting autoantibodies, including anti-integrin αVβ6 antibodies. In promoting this project, Professor Emeritus Tsutomu Chiba (Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University) will serve as a scientific advisory board member for Link Tx and will provide medical and scientific advice on the research and development of the project.

Kyoto iCAP has executed a new investment of 3 million yen in the hope that Link Tx's policy of research and development targeting autoantibodies will lead to the elucidation of unknown pathologies and the creation of new medical tools. In addition to Representative Director Yoshiko Abe, Assistant Professor Shiokawa and(at sentence-end, falling tone) indicates a confident conclusionDr. Takeshi Kuwata (Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe University, JSPS Research Fellow, Visiting Researcher, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University)

References: Takeshi Kuwada, Masahiro Shiokawa, Yuzo Kodama, Norimitsu Uza, Tsutomu Chiba. Hiroshi Seno, Identification of an Anti-Integrin αv β6 Autoantibody in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis, VOLUME 160, ISSUE 7, P2383-2394.E21, JUNE 01, 2021

About 0Link Therapeutics, Inc.

Establishment	October 4, 2022
Business	Creation of medical tools targeting autoantibodies, and search for autoantibody-associated diseases and their target autoantibodies
Head Office Location	36-1, Yoshida Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
President & CEO	Yoshiko Abe