Forerunner Pharma Research Co., Ltd. was jointly established by Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Central Institute for Experimental Animals. FPR will be engaged in the discovery of innovative new pharmaceuticals and diagnostic products and is planning to commence operations from April 22, 2005.

In 2002, Chugai, Mitsui, and CIEA established a joint venture called PharmaLogicals Research Pte. in Singapore and have been promoting research programmes through setting up of new genome-based drug discovery system for the efficient generation of therapeutic antibodies by obtaining pathological and genomic information from disease and genetic analysis.

Established as a solution to meet the need, FPR, based in the Komaba Open Laboratory of University of Tokyo Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), is expected to deliver the ability to conduct innovative drug exploratory by integrating Chugai's drug development technologies with the state-of-the-art knowledge and information accumulated in universities and other research institutes.

FPR will utilize research outcomes in pathological proteomics accumulated by PharmaLogicals, and further develop organized and collaborative research with RCAST and other institutes, in order to conduct concrete drug candidate screening and discovery research, the release said.