FRONTEO and Maruishi Pharmaceutical launch co-creation project for biomarker discovery using Drug Discovery AI Factory

Biomarkers, play an important role in determining the mechanism of action, pharmacological response, and therapeutic efficacy of drugs. Thus, determining relevant biomarkers to measure is critical in clinical trials for drug development *¹. This co-creation project combines FRONTEO’s Drug Discovery AI Factory (hereafter "DDAIF") *², an AI drug discovery support service specializing in hypothesis generation, with Maruishi Pharmaceutical's accumulated knowledge and technology in pharmaceutical research and development to accelerate Maruishi’s pharmaceutical research and development by aiding in the discovery of biomarkers relevant to drug candidates.

Maruishi Pharmaceutical is engaged in ongoing research and development activities, including seed search, basic drug discovery research, formulation design, CMC*³-related tests, non-clinical studies, clinical studies, and post-marketing drug development to meet unmet medical needs*⁴ in the perioperative, acute internal medicine, emergency medicine, infection control, and supportive care (cancer supportive care) fields, including peripheral medical fields.

FRONTEO leverages "KIBIT", an in-house developed specialized AI engine, and patented natural language processing technologies that are currently being evaluated by multiple pharmaceutical companies. It is expected to contribute greatly to improving clients’ success rate of drug development and their customer’s health.

The impact of this transaction itself on the financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 of FRONTEO is expected to be minor.

*1 Biomarkers are defined as objectively measurable medical conditions and signs that change depending on the presence or absence of a disease, medical condition, treatment, etc., and are used as physiological indicators. Examples include pulse, blood pressure, biological substances such as proteins and metabolites, molecules, cells, etc.
*2 AI drug discovery support service includes services provided by FRONTEO's drug discovery experts, who are well versed in AI and drug discovery, in addition to the use the natural language processing technology of KIBIT and the unique analysis methods to provide suggestions for target identification, drug repositioning, and the supporting hypotheses.
*3 Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control
*4 A condition or symptom whose treatment or diagnosis is not addressed adequately by available therapy.

1)   Takayo Ueno, et al.：Current Status and Future Prospects of Biomarker Strategy for Drug Development,Japanese Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 51(3), 151-160, 2020.

About unique technology to discover unreported relationships from existing literature
FRONTEO's AI drug discovery service (DDAIF), which uses the unique technologies of “KIBIT”, a specialized AI engine developed in-house, discovers unreported relationships from existing literature , extracts unreported target molecules with high diseases relevance, and presents hypotheses about the underlying disease mechanisms. In recent years, FRONTEO has advanced research on technologies and methodologies for efficiently accessing the information researchers seek from the vast amount of literature., While, making new discoveries from literature still relies on researchers' own imagination and serendipity. FRONTEO’s innovative approach in DDAIF makes it possible to find new discoveries from discontinuous sources in a scientific and systematic manner.
Reference: FRONTEO’s press release on September 9, 2024, patent application filed for "natural language processing technology that systematically and efficiently discovers unreported relationships from existing literature information", A new technology that overturns common sense in literature searches and revolutionizes science in general,
https://www.fronteo.com/pr/20240909

About this co-creation project
Many pharmaceutical research companies use conventional drug discovery platforms in dry research (data analysis) and wet research (biological testing) Dry research results are commonly advanced through an R&D pipeline without an active exchange of opinions between R&D stakeholders and the results do not incorporate robust information source between companies in charge of dry and wet research. Without rigorous vetting and robust information sources, R&D projects may not smoothly transit from dry research to wet lab verification.
This co-creation project will enable close collaboration between researchers from both companies in the dry-to-wet process of drug development, thereby creating synergistic deliverables that incorporate knowledge and technologies from both companies. This is expected to improve the success rate of subsequent drug development in similar cases　FRONTEO is currently in discussions with multiple pharmaceutical companies to evaluate FRONTEO’s DDAIF.

About Maruishi Pharmaceutical
Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was founded in 1888 as a manufacturer of Japanese Pharmacopoeia pharmaceuticals (basic drugs). Making use of the technology, knowledge, and know-how that have been cultivated over 130 years of history, Maruishi continues to contribute to the healthcare and improvement of QOL of the patients. 
In recent years, based on our business base in the perioperative medical field, infection control field, and basic drug field, we have also been expanding into acute phase/emergency medical care and supportive medical care (cancer supportive care).
For further details, please visit https://www.maruishi-pharm.co.jp/english/.

About FRONTEOURL: https://lifescience.fronteousa.com/
FRONTEO supports experts across various technological fields by providing valuable insights to jumpstart innovation through its proprietary specialized AI engine "KIBIT".
KIBIT implements a unique natural language processing technology (patented in Japan and the United States) that enables high-speed and high-precision analysis of textual repositories without relying on large quantities of training data and computing power, unlike a general-purpose AI engine. By utilizing patented technology that visualizes the structure of relationships between analyzed information, KIBIT provides insights to experts that would otherwise be hidden. In recent years, KIBIT has also been incorporated into analysis tools used for hypothesis generation and target exploration in drug discovery.
In line with FRONTEO’s mission of supporting the information society by providing solutions that discover opportunities and risks that are otherwise hidden in documents, FRONTEO has leveraged KIBIT's unique technology in the fields of Life Science AI, Business Intelligence, Economic Security, and LegalTech AI,
Founded in August 2003, listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market (now Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market) on June 26, 2007. The offices are located in Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan. Obtained the first-class marketing license for medical devices, registered controlled medical device sales business. Capital is 898,618,000 yen (as of August 31, 2024).

* FRONTEO, KIBIT and Drug Discovery AI Factory are registered trademarks of FRONTEO in Japan.