FRONTEO and ER Stress Research Institute Launch a Project to Discover Biomarkers for Patient Stratification Using Drug Discovery AI Factory

Aiming to Create Innovative Pharmaceuticals by Combining AI-Driven Drug Discovery with Research on Unfolded Protein Response, a Field Associated with Potential Candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Tokyo, Japan, October 7, 2026 - FRONTEO, Inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Masahiro Morimoto; hereinafter “FRONTEO”) and ER Stress Research Institute, Inc. (Headquarters: Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan; President & CEO: Seiichi Oyadomari; hereinafter “ER Stress Research Institute”) announce that they have launched a project to discover biomarkers^*1 for stratifying patients expected to benefit from “ERS,” a small-molecule drug candidate for diabetes being developed by ER Stress Research Institute.


ER Stress Research Institute is a biotech startup founded in 2017 by Dr. Oyadomari, Professor, Division of Molecular Biology, Institute of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tokushima University, to translate his research into practical applications, most notably his pioneering discovery of the link between ER stress and diabetes. Research and development by Dr. Oyadomari and the company have been selected for numerous public funding programs, including those of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The company has also received support through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's J-Startup WEST program and Tokushima Prefecture's New Era Innovation Creation Support Subsidy.

Dr. Kazutoshi Mori, Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study, is a pioneer of research on the unfolded protein response (UPR) and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. He serves as a scientific advisor to the company.

In this project, the two companies will combine ER Stress Research Institute’s research insights into the UPR with the analytical capabilities of FRONTEO’s AI-driven drug discovery support service, “Drug Discovery AI Factory” (hereinafter “DDAIF”)*2, to identify candidate biomarkers and generate hypotheses that will help identify patient groups expected to benefit from ERS, which is being developed by ER Stress Research Institute. The two companies will also explore the potential of a new drug discovery approach that combines UPR research with AI. In general, biomarkers for patient stratification are highly important: they can contribute to improving the likelihood of demonstrating efficacy in clinical development, reducing the required number of trial participants, and improving the efficiency of patient selection and recruitment. After commercialization, they can also help guide the selection of patients for treatment and avoid treatments that are unlikely to be effective.
This project is being conducted as part of “DDAIF Innovation Bridge”*3, an initiative launched by FRONTEO in February 2026 that combines technical support from DDAIF with investment. In conjunction with the signing of the agreement for this project, FRONTEO will make an investment in ER Stress Research Institute.

A New Drug Discovery Approach Based on the Unfolded Protein Response
The ER is an organelle responsible for the folding and quality control of proteins synthesized within the cell. Proteins perform their functions when chains of amino acids fold into specific three-dimensional structures. When unfolded or misfolded proteins accumulate in the ER, a condition known as "ER stress" arises, and cells activate an adaptive signaling network called the "unfolded protein response (UPR)" to resolve it. When the UPR restores proper protein folding, cellular homeostasis is maintained; however, when ER stress is excessive or prolonged, it can lead to cellular dysfunction and cell death and is thought to contribute to the onset of various diseases. For this reason, drug discovery targeting the mechanisms of the UPR has attracted attention as a research area with the potential to lead to new treatments.

Comment from Seiichi Oyadomari, CEO, ER Stress Research Institute
"ERS is a drug based on an entirely new concept that is expected to show its full potential in patients with diabetes whose pancreatic β-cells retain the capacity to recover, and acquiring biomarkers that can identify such patients will be key to the success of clinical development. We highly value DDAIF's ability to use KIBIT to uncover relationships between molecules in the vast scientific literature that are beyond the reach of human review, and the way FRONTEO's drug discovery researchers unpack the rationale behind those findings and chart a path toward their validation. By combining our long-standing expertise in ER stress research with FRONTEO's AI technology, we aim to accelerate the development of ERS, expand our collaboration to the diverse diseases in which ER stress is involved, and deliver groundbreaking treatment options to patients as soon as possible." 

Comment from Hiroyoshi Toyoshiba, Director and CSO (Chief Science Officer), FRONTEO
“The unfolded protein response is a critical mechanism for maintaining cellular homeostasis and is an area attracting significant attention, with its links to various diseases being actively investigated. I see great potential in ER Stress Research Institute’s technology, which approaches diseases from a unique perspective. If this initiative enables us to use DDAIF to advance research and development on ER stress as a key to understanding disease mechanisms, we can enhance the value of ERS and explore applications in a wider range of diseases through synergies between the two companies’ technologies. I am very pleased to be collaborating with ER Stress Research Institute, which possesses a broadly applicable drug discovery platform with the potential to deliver new treatment options to many patients in the future.”

Notes:
*1 Biomarker: A biological indicator, such as a substance or change in the body, used to objectively evaluate the presence or progression of a disease or the effectiveness of treatment.
*2 DDAIF: An AI-driven drug discovery support service in which FRONTEO’s drug discovery experts, well-versed in both AI and drug discovery, leverage the natural language processing technology of FRONTEO’s proprietary AI “KIBIT” and its proprietary analytical methods to provide hypothesis generation for target molecule and indication discovery.
*3 February 12, 2026, press release: FRONTEO Launches “DDAIF Innovation Bridge” to Provide Scientific Support for Bio-Ventures Through Its AI-Driven Drug Discovery Support Service “Drug Discovery AI Factory”, https://legal.fronteousa.com/resources/pr/20260212_01

About ER Stress Research Institute　 https://www.erstress.co.jp/e
ER Stress Research Institute is dedicated to creating new drugs that lead to fundamental treatments for diseases caused by the failure of cellular stress responses. Its core technology, the ER Stress Drug Discovery Platform, comprises a database for exploring therapeutic targets built on more than 20 years of research, screening technologies that comprehensively capture the UPR, and a panel of disease models that enable systematic evaluation of drug efficacy. Through collaborative research with pharmaceutical companies in Japan and overseas, the company has generated multiple drug candidates.
The company's lead programs consist of ERS, a drug candidate for diabetes, and chemical chaperones, drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases. ERS is an orally administered small-molecule compound with a novel mechanism of action that promotes the proliferation of pancreatic β-cells while alleviating their ER stress, aiming to treat diabetes by restoring β-cell function, an approach not offered by existing drugs. The chemical chaperones target diseases in which the aggregation and accumulation of misfolded proteins is a contributing factor, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and central diabetes insipidus. The company is also conducting research and development on early-stage programs for psoriasis and renal cancer.

About FRONTEO Drug Discovery AI Factory (DDAIF)

[Reference: Initiatives with pharmaceutical companies and Academia]
https://www.fronteo.com/news/ddaif-list

FRONTEO Drug Discovery AI Factory (DDAIF) is an AI-based drug discovery support service that combines KIBIT (patented in Japan, Europe, the U.S., and South Korea), an Equation-driven AI specialized in natural language processing, with the expertise of FRONTEO’s drug discovery researchers and AI engineers. It powerfully supports researchers’ decision-making in drug development through the analysis of disease-related gene networks and the construction of hypotheses regarding target molecule candidates. This service has already been adopted by multiple major pharmaceutical companies and has a proven track record.

*The technology used in Drug Discovery AI Factory is covered by a total of 21 patents held by FRONTEO in Japan, Europe, the U.S., and South Korea.

https://lifescience.fronteo.com/products/drug-discovery-ai-factory/

About FRONTEO, Inc. https://www.fronteo.com/en/