Drug discovery venture "Renascience" to be established in Tohoku University for accelerating longevity research: Comments from Sho Kato, Head of TREx

To accelerate its longevity research, Renascience (President and CEO: Keisuke Furuta), a drug discovery venture from Tohoku University, plans to establish a new Japan-based laboratory (TREx-Longevity Lab) of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute of Northwestern University in the United States. The new laboratory will be located in Renascience's Open Innovation Lab (TREx), established in the Medicinal Hub, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine. It is scheduled to be established around this summer. The Science News asked Sho Kato, the head of TREx, about the new laboratory's aims and expectations.

Kato said, "We established the lab expecting to accelerate longevity research. We would like to measure biological age in humans, analyze aging indices of organs, including the immune system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, metabolic system, and musculoskeletal system, and search for biomarkers of aging. Furthermore, we will work on clinical trials of our plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) inhibitor under development."

The company has recently promoted joint research on PAI-1 with Northwestern University and many other institutions. Through these collaborative studies, the company has shown that the PAI-1 expression is elevated not only in senescent cells but also in organs affected by a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer's disease, and that its inhibition can decelerate cellular aging and improve the pathological conditions.

In 2017, the company reported the results of an epidemiological study of Amish participants living in the United States, showing that those with defects in the PAI-1 gene had an approximately 10-year longer life expectancy than those carrying the functional PAI-1 gene. This finding was covered by the New York Times. The PAI-1 inhibitor being developed by the company is currently at clinical trial stages for chronic myeloid leukemia (phase III), malignant melanoma (phase III), systemic scleroderma (phase II), angiosarcoma (phase II), and non-small cell lung cancer (phase II) to obtain regulatory approval in Japan for the treatment of cancer and lung diseases.

TREx, which opened in January 2022 at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine's Medicinal Hub, functions to utilize cutting-edge science and technology results, meet with physicians and researchers, or engage in open innovation with government organizations and medical industry companies.

In April 2023, the company established the Hiroshima University Renascience Open Innovation Lab (HiREx) at Hiroshima University to promote investigator-initiated clinical trials. Developing drugs to extend healthy life expectancy is a common challenge for developed countries, including Japan, as they face a super-aging society. The government is also promoting support to strengthen drug discovery capabilities.

Last December, the government package to strengthen drug discovery capabilities and ensure a stable supply of generic and other drugs was announced. Approximately 100 billion yen of the fiscal year 2024 supplementary budget was allocated to improve the drug discovery environment and increase investment to support start-ups.

"We aim to clarify cellular senescence at the molecular level, develop new drugs for treating diseases associated with tissue and whole-body aging, and ultimately create medical innovations to control human aging," added Kato.

The company plans to submit an application to the "X PRIZE Healthspan competition for a prize of $100 million for a successful therapeutic treatment that restores the cognitive, muscle, and other functions by 10 years in elderly people in the United States" sponsored by the X PRIZE Foundation, with their PAI-1 inhibitor currently under development in collaboration with Tohoku University, Tokai University, Hiroshima University, and other institutions. Expectations are growing for Renascience's drug discovery and development in Japan.