We are pleased to announce that Kyoto University Innovation Capital Corporation ("Kyoto iCAP") (Head Office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Kimi Kusumi), Chordia Therapeutics Corporation (Head Office: Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Representative Director: (headquartered in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Hiroshi Miyake, President), Kyoto University, University of Miyazaki, and Kyoto Institute of Advanced Technology received the "Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Award".

In the judging for the award, the company was highly evaluated as a new role model for the future Japanese drug discovery ecosystem by creating a new anti-cancer drug, MALT1 inhibitor, independently from major companies and with the cooperation of public and private funds, through industry-government-academia collaboration with universities and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), and successfully licensing the drug out to a pharmaceutical company. This was highly acclaimed as a new role model for the future Japanese drug discovery ecosystem.

Kyoto iCAP's mission is to contribute to the creation of industries that will lead the next generation through investments in startup companies that utilize the advanced research findings of Kyoto University and other national universities. The award-winning results are noteworthy as a model of venture support and industry-academia collaboration, having established and supported a carve-out venture from joint research between a national university and a major company.

Awardees' Comments
Daisuke Morishita Chief Scientific Officer Chordia Therapeutics K.K.
This research was conceived during my study in the United States and materialized after my return to Japan. To be honest, however, I look back now and realize that I was driven solely by my passion to bring new medicines to patients. I strongly feel that I was able to complete this project in a form despite unexpected changes in the research environment, because of the support I received from my co-recipients and their mutual trust in my rough aspirations. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have worked with me, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with you again on the development of new drugs.

Seiji Ogawa Professor, Department of Tumor Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
Shortly after I started my research at Kyoto University, I met Dr. Morishita in 2014 after he returned from his study in the U.S. Since then, we have been collaborating on drug discovery research in industry-academia collaboration. I have been working on clarifying the nature of cancer from the perspective of cancer genome abnormalities, but this was my first experience as a researcher to be directly involved in and contribute to the creation of a new drug candidate based on the results of that work. Based on this experience, I would like to continue my efforts to create new drugs.

Kazuya Shimoda Professor, Department of Hematology, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Miyazaki University School of Medicine
The purpose of our research is to directly translate the obtained research results into treatments for patients. For this reason, we started drug development about 10 years ago, not only through research conducted solely by the university, but also in collaboration with companies. This collaboration with Mr. Morishita to create a new drug candidate was an invaluable experience, and we intend to build on these results to further engage in drug discovery research through industry-academia collaboration.

Seiichi Tanida Advisor, Advanced Technological Research Institute of Kyoto
In the course of promoting a program to support open innovation drug discovery with the creation of an ecosystem for drug development in mind, I came across Mr. Morishita, who is conducting research at a startup that has carved out a major pharmaceutical company, supported by cancer genome technology that is at the cutting edge of academia. I have been supporting the progress of the project from the side while staying close to the person in charge of the project, and have been watching the "course" of the project so far. As a result, I believe that I have been able to witness the creation of a new anti-cancer drug and its solid growth as a world-class global start-up.

Hiroyuki Ueno General Manager, Investment Department II, Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co.
Chordia Therapeutics is honored to have been able to contribute to the social implementation of the results of this research through industry-government-academia collaboration and to hand it over to the startup Chordia Therapeutics, Inc. Chordia's team, led by CSO Morishita, worked with Kyoto University, Miyazaki University, and other research institutions to advance this research development quickly and effectively. I would like to thank all Chordia employees, investors, business companies, research institutes, government agencies, and the many others who have been involved in this innovation.

About the Japan Open Innovation Awards
As international competition over the creation of innovation intensifies, a major challenge is to quickly implement the results of research and development and other activities in society, and to link them to the resolution of social needs and the creation of new value. As a way to achieve this, open innovation, which promotes new approaches that combine knowledge, technology, and management resources across organizational boundaries, is attracting attention.
In light of this situation, in order to further promote open innovation in Japan, the "Japan Open Innovation Awards" are given to initiatives with high leadership and originality that are expected to serve as role models for the future.
URL: https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/openinnovation/prize/2023.html

About Chordia Therapeutics, Inc.
Chordia Therapeutics K.K. is an R&D-oriented bio-venture specializing in oncology with clinical development products and is based in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Chordia Therapeutics' lead program, CTX-712, a CLK inhibitor, is in Phase I clinical trials in Japan and Phase I/II trials in the U.S. CTX-712 targets a vulnerability in cancer and is expected to be an effective treatment. In addition to CTX-712, we are conducting research and development of several pipeline products including CTX-439, a CDK12 inhibitor and GCN2 inhibitor, which are expected to be effective in the treatment of cancers with specific abnormalities.

Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co., Ltd.(Kyoto-iCAP)About
　As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kyoto University, KYOTO-iCAP provides investment and other business support to companies that utilize research results generated by Kyoto University and other national universities. We currently operate the KYOTO-iCAP No. 1 Fund (established in January 2016) with a total value of 16 billion yen and the Innovation Kyoto 2021 Investment Limited Partnership ("KYOTO-iCAP No. 2 Fund") (established in January 2021) with a total value of 18.1 billion yen. The No. 1 Fund has a maturity of up to 20 years, and the No. 2 Fund has a maturity of up to 17 years, making it possible to provide long-term support for the practical application of research results from Kyoto University, which has strengths in basic research. In addition, a portion of the funds in the No. 2 Fund will be invested in ventures originating from national universities other than Kyoto University.

Contact information for inquiries
Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co., Ltd.
36-1 Yoshida Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8317, Japan
Osami Kono, Senior Officer, Business Development Department
TEL: 075-753-7588 FAX: 075-753-7592
E-mail: info@kyoto-unicap.co.jp