【News】CYBERDYNE formed a capital and business alliance with ReqMed, a company that develops drugs for rare diseases and osteoarthritis of the knee

CYBERDYNE Inc. (Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; President & CEO: Yoshiyuki Sankai; from now on referred to as “the Company”) and ReqMed Company, Ltd. (Machida, Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Tadashi Matsumoto: “ReqMed”), a company engaged in the development of drugs for rare diseases and diseases for which there are no effective treatments. Furthermore, the Cybernics Excellence Japan No. 1 Investment Business Limited Partnership (CEJ Fund), operated by CEJ Capital Inc, will also invest in ReqMed.

ReqMed develops and markets drugs for unmet medical needs, such as rare diseases with very few patients and no effective treatment method. For example, they created and launched a drug for homocystinuria in Japan, which wasn’t available in Japan due to the lack of a developer. They are also preparing to apply for approval of a drug to treat inborn errors of bile acid metabolism, which was selected under an orphan drug scheme by the Japanese government. Furthermore, ReqMed is also working in parallel to obtain indications for pentosan sodium polysulfate (NaPPS) for various diseases. The Company will work with ReqMed, providing technical, financial, and business support to realize the health and well-being of patients with rare diseases and all other patients who require treatments that do not yet exist.

(Comment by CEO Sankai)
ReqMed is focusing on developing NaPPS-based drugs for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis and mucolipidosis (both rare diseases). In addition, ReqMed aims to obtain an indication for NaPPS as a drug for osteoarthritis of the knee. In addition, NaPPS has the potential to suppress chronic spinal cord inflammation in HTLV-1-infected patients, a disease that is more common in Japan in comparison to other developed countries. I hear that the medical team of HAM is considering NaPPS HAM to develop it as a treatment for HTLV-1-related myelopathy (HAM: designated intractable disease 26). Therefore, we have decided to support ReqMed in the hopes of advancing a new complex medical technology by combining our technology, ReMeds drugs, and experts in knee osteoarthritis and HAM.

＜reference＞
■ Website of ReqMed Company, Ltd.: http://reqmed.co.jp/eng/