CITY OF TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, January 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Veneno Technologies Co. Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has completed fundraising for 200 million yen through a third-party allotment of new shares to SBI Investment Co., Ltd., Tsukuba Institute of Research, Ltd. and SBI regional activation support Co., Ltd.

Funds raised will be used to strengthen recruitment and organizational structure, further develop the company’s proprietary peptide drug discovery platform technology, and invest in research and development of the company’s own drug discovery pipeline. company using DRP functional peptides as building block molecules to further promote DRP drug discovery.

Purpose of Fund Procurement
Veneno Suite™ is the company’s proprietary integrated DRP drug discovery technology.
The Veneno Suite™ consists of a large gene library that is created by artificially accelerating the evolution of natural DRPs (Disulfide Rich Peptides) using them as templates, a screening system that allows the search for target DRPs from the library quickly and efficiently. , and a technology that enables the efficient production of various DRPs in a short time. With this funding, we will further refine these technologies and accelerate the discovery of DRP drugs (pharmaceuticals, research reagents, agrochemicals, biostimulants, and various other “drugs”).

Our mission is to contribute to the advancement of medicine by providing new drugs for targets such as membrane proteins that have been difficult to discover, and for incurable diseases related to these targets. In order to fulfill this mission, we will reinforce the following points through this fundraiser.

• Appointment of top researchers and opening of new laboratories to advance DRP drug discovery.
• Extension of the DRP-oriented library (DRP Space™).
• Strengthen and expand the DRP Rapid Research System (PERISS™) pipeline (promote joint research).
• Development of DRP (Super Secrete™) manufacturing technology, including implementation of high yield, low volume, high mix manufacturing technology.
• This funding will allow us to further refine our proprietary large-scale library, high-speed screening technology, and high-throughput DRP manufacturing technology to accelerate our goal of DRP drug discovery.
• We expect to be able to take a concrete step towards establishing a new paradigm using DRP as a new drug discovery platform molecule after antibodies.

Investor Comments

Mr. Makoto HasegawaManager, Investment Division, SBI Investment Co. said, “Veneno Technologies has developed innovative technology to turn functional peptides, called DRPs, into pharmaceuticals. We decided to invest in Veneno Technologies because we see the potential of their technology and we want to take up the challenge of developing new modalities together. We hope that our technology will lead to the development of many new innovative drugs in the future.

Mr. masato suzukiPrincipal Investigator, Consulting Department, Tsukuba Research Institute, Inc. said, “Veneno Technologies is a drug discovery company that is using this technology to develop drugs that target ion channels, which remain untapped as drug targets.”

About Veneno Technologies, Inc.
Veneno Technologies was created to accelerate the research and development of functional DRP peptides and to contribute to an advanced and sustainable medicine and society. The company was established to accelerate the research and development of functional DRP peptides and to contribute to an advanced and sustainable medicine and society.

By integrating innovative DRP discovery technologies that have been researched for many years at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and DRP manufacturing technologies that are currently being researched and of developments, we will lead the research and development of various DRP drug technologies such as new drugs, research reagents, agrochemicals and biostimulants.

Veneno Technologies, Inc. Veneno Technologies has entered into a patent license agreement with AIST under AIST’s technology transfer program. Veneno Technologies has obtained a patent license agreement and the title of AIST Technology Transfer Company by AIST.

Company profile
Company name: Veneno Technologies Corporation
Location: Tsukuba City Industrial Promotion Center, 2-5-1 Azuma, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture
Establishment: July 9, 2020
The Company is engaged in the discovery, research and development of peptide DRPs for ion channels, transporters, GPCRs and other membrane proteins using Veneno Suite™.
Company Description: URL: https://veneno.co.jp/

Remarks:
1) Disulfide Rich Peptide (DRP):
Disulfide-rich peptide (DRP): Generic term for peptides of approximately 20-60 amino acid residues that have a characteristic structure with three or more disulfide bonds in the molecule.
DRPs are potent bioactive peptides widely distributed in nature, from bacteria to humans, and have been extensively studied in animal venoms. Since animals use DRPs as a major component of venom and have evolved DRP peptides to be potent even in small amounts, DRPs are highly active and selective against ion channels and receptors. Additionally, DRPs have several disulfides in their molecules. DRPs are very stable against heat, pH and degradative enzymes compared to linear peptides due to their tight molecular structure with multiple disulfide bonds in the molecule.
In recent years, DRP has attracted attention as a novel building block molecule for drug discovery.
Low molecular weight compounds and antibodies, which are the mainstream of existing drug molecules, are not suitable for designing drug molecules for ion channels and GPCRs due to their molecular characteristics.
DRPs are excellent natural ion channel and GPCR agonists, and have been applied in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. However, DRPs are difficult to chemically synthesize due to their complex molecular structure, and effective drug screening methods (molecular discovery methods) to target membrane proteins are limited. Therefore, contrary to expectations for DRPs as functional components, their practical application has been slow to progress.

2) Veneno™ Suite:
Focusing on the utility of DRPs as functional peptides, the Veneno Suite™ was constructed by combining a membrane protein-targeting DRP research method developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) with a simple and inexpensive method of synthesis.
The Veneno Suite™ consists of three main technologies: (1) DRP Space™: technology to create a large DRP-based library, (2) PERISS™: high-speed screening technology using the periplasmic display method, (3) Super Secrete™: production technology using the secretion method of E. coli

3) Membrane proteins such as ion channels, transporters and GPCRs:
For a cell to carry out its biological activities, it is necessary to maintain a constant environment inside and outside the cell, as well as to maintain a constant supply of inorganic ions and many organic substances. water-soluble substances involved in biological metabolism. .
For cells to perform their biological activities, it is necessary to maintain a constant environment inside and outside the cell, and to allow the passage of molecules that cannot penetrate the cell membrane (lipid bilayer membrane ), such as inorganic ions and many water-soluble organic substances involved in biological metabolism.
This special “passage” is called the lipid bilayer. These special “passages” are ion channels made up of membrane proteins and are called transporters.
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), on the other hand, receive neurotransmitters and extracellular hormones and transmit their signals inside the cell, and are involved in maintaining homeostasis inside and outside the cell. outside the cell. There are different types of ion channels, transporters, and GPCRs, and they are implicated in many diseases.
Therefore, they are important targets for drug discovery.

For inquiries regarding this release, please contact:
Veneno Technologies Co.
[email protected]

SOURCE Veneno Technologies Co. Ltd.