Astellas earned its debut into this year’s top 10 with a plethora of collaborations, including in the oncology space with the life sciences arm of the Japanese tech giant, Sony. The two companies are exploring novel antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) which provide better
targeted anti-cancer drug delivery.
The pair have tentative plans to extend the current partnership – combining Astellas’ pharmaceutical expertise with Sony’s advanced technology. In another collaboration centered on novel antibody discovery, Astellas entered into an agreement with Twist Bioscience (the third of such to date) to seek out antibodies in multiple therapy areas utilizing Twist Bioscience’s extensive expertise in DNA synthesis technology.
Like its rivals, Astellas is also hoping to get an edge in the competitive diabetes market and has joined the fray alongside Roche Diabetes Care Japan. The newly minted team has entered into an agreement to commercialize Roche Diabetes Care’s glucose monitoring system (Accu-Chek Guide Me) in combination with BlueStar, a digital health solution for diabetics (currently marketed in the US and Canada). Astellas, along with BlueStar’s manufacturer Welldoc, will run clinical trials and launch the integrated remote patient monitoring system in Japan.
The system includes an AI-based algorithm to support patients’ diabetes management and lifestyle adjustments. Astellas also invested almost $70 million in building a new innovative research center or “integrated biotechnology campus” in San Francisco. Meanwhile in Japan, Astellas’ home market, it has joined forces with Mitsui Fudosan to build an innovation hub dedicated to tumor microenvironment research, with state-of-the-art machine learning technologies and research equipment.
