News

Fujifilm invests in a biotech venture, Cuorips

Signing a business partnership agreement on the contract development and manufacturing of regenerative medicine products TOKYO – FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Kenji Sukeno) announces that it signed an agreement today to invest 100 million yen into a biotech venture, Cuorips Inc. through underwriting its third-party allocation of shares. Cuorips is a biotech venture for developing and commercializing iPSC-based treatment for heart failure. Coinciding with the investment, Fujifilm also signed a business partnership agreement concerning the contract development and manufacturing of a regenerative medicine product, currently under R&D by Cuorips, the United States. Heart failure refers to a condition in which the heart becomes incapable of pumping blood sufficiently, leading to symptoms such as breathing difficulty. It is caused by heart diseases such as ischemic cardiomyopathy*1. Heart failure is treated with pharmacotherapy at present, but it is difficult to achieve a complete recovery. Many patients require repeated hospital treatments as their conditions worsen, and

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Fujifilm and the Center for Advanced Biological Innovation and Manufacturing Announce $76M in Funding for Manufacturing and Innovation Center

TOKYO – FUJIFILM Corporation (COO: Kenji Sukeno) and the Center for Advanced Biological Innovation and Manufacturing (CABIM), today announced that it has secured $76 million in financing and signed a lease for a 40,000 square-foot site in Watertown, Massachusetts at The Arsenal on the Charles, owned and operated by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. The Center will advance research and development in cell and gene therapy, gene editing, immunotherapy, and biotechnology. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, the Bio CDMO1 subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, will provide GMP2 contract process development and manufacturing services as part of its role in the new manufacturing and innovation center.   Previously announced in November 2019, CABIM aims to help new therapeutics, medicines, and technologies reach patients faster and strengthen Greater Boston’s position as the world’s life science capital. The industry-academia research and development consortium was established with an equal investment each from Fujifilm, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute

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Fujifilm to Invest Over 200 Billion yen (2 Billion USD) to Establish New Large-Scale Cell Culture Manufacturing Site for Biopharmaceuticals in the U.S.A.

End-to-End Single-Site Solution from Drug Substances to Fill-Finish & Packaging TOKYO ― FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Kenji Sukeno) is making an investment of more than 200 Billion yen (2 Billion USD) to establish a new large-scale cell culture production site in the United States to accelerate the growth of its biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business (CDMO). FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, with development and manufacturing facilities across the U.S.A., U.K., and Denmark will operate the new facility. This new facility will offer large-scale cell culture manufacturing of bulk drug substance with 8 x 20,000L bioreactors (physical volume), with the potential to expand and add a further 24 x 20,000L bioreactors based on market demand. In addition to drug substance manufacture, the facility will also provide commercial scale, automated fill-finish and assembly, packaging and labeling services. The new site will be built within the vicinity of an existing

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STEVE BAGSHAW, NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF FUJFILM DIOSYNTH BIOTECHNOLGIES RECOGNIZED IN NEW YEARS HONORS LIST 2021

Billingham, United Kingdom – FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, is pleased to share that Steve Bagshaw, non-executive chairman of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, has been awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for Services to the U.K. Manufacturing and Biotechnology Sector in the New Years Honors List 2021. The New Year Honors List 2021, published on December 31, 2020, recognizes individuals within the public sector and community for their extraordinary contributions in all four nations of the United Kingdom throughout 2020 and beyond. “I am very honored to receive the CBE award in the New Years Honors List 2021, alongside countless individuals that are dedicated to building a healthier tomorrow,” said Steve Bagshaw, non-executive chairman, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. “This recognition comes at a time when our U.K. and global biotechnology and manufacturing teams are working not only to develop and make the vaccines we all need, but also

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Fujifilm to invest $40 Million to Establish a New State-of-the-Art Viral Vector and Advanced Therapy Process Development and Manufacturing Facility

Establishing a presence in Massachusetts within the academia and pharma communities to perform cutting-edge research and innovation in the field of advanced therapies. TOKYO ― FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Kenji Sukeno) will make a major capital investment of approximately 4 billion yen ($40 million) in FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization(CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and viral vectors, to establish a new process development and manufacturing facility for viral vectors and advanced therapies in the greater-Boston area. This will be the third location for viral vector CDMO services provided by FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. The new facility is scheduled to begin process development operations in fall 2021 and will expand FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ manufacturing capacity to support the growing viral vector sector, which is focused on using genes to treat or prevent disease. The new facility will house experimental and analytical equipment for viral vector and advanced

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Fujifilm Congratulates Five New Recipients of the Fujifilm Fellowship at Harvard Medical School

CAMBRIDGE, Mass – FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation (Fujifilm), announced that five new recipients have been awarded the Fujifilm Fellowship at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Since its launch in 2019, the program has provided 11 fellowships for Ph.D. students who are enrolled at HMS, and focused on translational medicine, the process of applying basic research in the laboratory for new therapeutic development. Recipients of the Fujifilm Fellowship represent the school’s most promising Ph.D. students. The newest Fujifilm Fellows include: Andrew Dates – Andrew is in his third year of graduate studies in the Harvard Chemical Biology Ph.D. Program. He is a member of the Blacklow Lab at Harvard Medical School where they study a number of unresolved questions about how other proteins genetically implicated in the Notch pathway modulate signaling in normal and cancer contexts. Laurent Dubois – Laurent is in his second year of graduate studies in the Harvard Ph.D.

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Fujifilm Partners with Chinese Pharmaceutical Company Carelink in Deploying Anti-influenza Drug Avigan® Tablets in China

TOKYO — FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd. (President: Junji Okada) has announced that the company has partnered with Chinese pharmaceutical company Carelink Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Carelink”) in deploying anti-influenza drug Avigan® Tablets (generic name: favipiravir,“Avigan”) in China. Going forward, through a future application and approval of Avigan for imported drug registration, to be submitted by Carelink, FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical aims to introduce Avigan to the Chinese market. Carelink is a pharmaceutical company that is actively engaged in developing new drugs by making use of their staff that have ample global experiences in Japan, Asia, Europe and the U.S., as well as extensive clinical development expertise and track records, with the aim of broadly supplying high-quality pharmaceuticals not only in China but to the entire world. At present, Carelink has expanded its area of development to infectious diseases as well as lifestyle diseases, and is working to develop antiviral drugs.

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Fujifilm Filed an Application for Partial Changes to the Manufacturing and Marketing Approval Matters of Anti-Influenza Drug Avigan® Tablet in Japan to Include Additional Indication for COVID-19

TOKYO — FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd. (President: Junji Okada; hereinafter “FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical”) has announced that the company filed an Application for Partial Changes to manufacturing and marketing approval matters of its anti-influenza drug Avigan® Tablet (generic name: favipiravir,”Avigan”) to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan. The filing seeks to add an indication and other items relating to novel coronavirus infections (hereinafter “COVID-19”). Avigan, approved for manufacture and sale in Japan as an influenza antiviral drug, selectively inhibits RNA polymerase necessary for influenza virus replication. Due to this mechanism of action, it has been expected that Avigan may have an antiviral effect on the novel coronavirus, as they are RNA viruses of the same type as influenza viruses. FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical conducted phase III clinical trial in Japan in March of this year for COVID-19 patients with non-severe pneumonia. The company confirmed, with a statistically significant

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FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Stands Ready to Manufacture Lilly COVID-19 Antibody for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

HILLERØD, Denmark – FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and viral vectors, today announced that it will manufacture Eli Lilly and Company’s COVID-19 therapeutic antibody at its GMP1 facility in Hillerød, Denmark, deploying capacity reserved for the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. The commercial manufacturing falls under the agreement between Lilly and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, to supply potential Lilly therapeutic antibodies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The Therapeutics Accelerator is an initiative launched by the Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard to speed up the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying, assessing, developing, and scaling up treatments. Earlier this year, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies announced that it had reserved manufacturing capacity for the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, at its large scale biologics production facility in Hillerød. Commercial manufacturing of the Lilly antibody therapy is

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Axxam and FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics announce strategic alliance to deliver integrated hiPSC drug discovery solutions

MILAN (Italy) and MADISON (Wis., USA) – Axxam S.p.A., a leading provider of integrated drug discovery services across life sciences industries, and FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) models and therapies, announce a strategic alliance to improve the drug discovery process. The alliance will provide drug discovery researchers and scientists access to an integrated platform of hiPSC-based assays, through the application of the most advanced drug discovery technologies to enable target assessment, High-Throughput Screening (HTS), and High-Content Screening. Through collaboration with FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Axxam will increase its portfolio of human disease-relevant cellular models used in the development of new assays for target assessment and compound screening. FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics’ expertise in hiPSC development and manufacture, enables standardized and homogenous batches of hiPSC-derived cells, ensuring reproducible large-scale screens and long-term projects. The strategic alliance will enable FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics to offer

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