The University of Tokyo and Astellas Pharma Inc. have entered the second phase of their collaboration for co-creating innovative new medicines and medical solutions, called the Astellas Alliance Acceleration Program (AAAP).
 
In its first phase, from September 2020 to March 2022, AAAP established a base for its collaborative relationship at the university’s Institute for Life Science Research and Education, and the University of Tokyo Center of Innovation. During this period, medical and pharmaceutical researchers from the two university organizations and drug discovery researchers from Astellas nurtured an environment for open-minded discussions, and as a result, several new research projects were identified and launched successfully.
 
In the second phase, the University of Tokyo will expand its partnership involvement to include all of its institutions. Furthermore, a newly appointed AAAP-dedicated project manager will be stationed at the university to facilitate the collaboration. These additional initiatives will allow the strategic partners to build new research projects, by combining the University of Tokyo’s cutting-edge scientific research with Astellas’ drug discovery know-how.
 
“Encouraged by our close collaboration during the first phase, we are delighted to start the second phase encompassing the breadth of research at the University of Tokyo. We hope that comprehensive knowledge of the life sciences from the university will further lead to innovative drug discovery projects,” said Hidenori Ichijo, DDS, Ph.D., a professor at the university’s Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a member of the AAAP Steering Committee.
 
“I am pleased with this AAAP second phase agreement,” said Yoshitsugu Shitaka, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at astellas. “By leveraging the power of the more extensive and closer collaboration, we expect to accelerate the co-creation of innovations that contribute to our activities from early drug discovery research to clinical development.”