Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that the company's research subsidiary KAN Research Institute, Inc. has launched research operations in their new facilities in the Kobe Medical Industry Development Project site. KAN completed relocation on October 1 to the Port Island in Kobe city, the heart of the Kobe Medical Industry Development Project where the various full-fledge core medical & research institutions are concentrated.

KAN Research Institute aims to promote discovery of innovative ideas and technology that lead to new pharmaceutical development, emphasizing on cellomics in order to explore how cells interact with each other and orchestrate to shape vital activities of a human body. The results and targets found through such fundamental research become a bridge towards further pharmaceutical development.

The main targeted areas of KAN Research Institute consist of neurology area as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, oncology area as malignant tumor, metastasis and vascularization, and immunology and inflammation as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The study outcome of these focused areas is utilized for translational research from basic study for drug discovery, which also contribute to the R&D activities of Eisai worldwide.

With enhancement of research facilities made possible by the relocation this time, KAN desires to accelerate research activities by the extended network of researchers brought by the advantage of bio cluster district in the Kobe Medical Industry Development Project site, while sustainably pursuing the state-of-art knowledge and technology in biology & medical field.

Eisai approaches to new and innovative drug discovery through structuring reseach bases in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, in order to fullfil the unmet medical needs. In line with these objectives, KAN research institute is committed to explore the undefined biopharmaceutical mechanisms for the future drug development.