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• Entry into New Drug Development Support Business- Agreement for Exclusive Agency in Japan Signed with New Drug Development Venture Business of Sweden -

Entry into New Drug Development Support Business
- Agreement for Exclusive Agency in Japan Signed with New Drug Development Venture Business of Sweden -

2010-05-17

Toyota Tsusho Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Toyota Tsusho"; Headquarters: Nagoya City; President: Junzo Shimizu) signed an agreement to be the exclusive agency in Japan for a new drug development venture business of Sweden, Respiratorius (hereinafter referred to as "Respiratorius"; Headquarters: Lund, Sweden; President: Dr. Jorgen Gustafsson).

Respiratorius is a venture business established in 1999 to conduct business for the development of new drugs and consigned evaluations of chemical compound candidates for new drugs. Respiratorius is in the process of developing a curative medicine for critical asthma as well as maladies arising from smoking, known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which has drawn a lot of attention also in Japan in recent years, due to the vast number of potential patients. The company is currently proceeding with preclinical test preparations for a variety of chemical compounds. Such chemical compounds are protected by patents with expectations for the use of these chemical compounds as new curative medicine, due to the innovative long-term effects and superior trachea expansibility they offer. Hopes are also high for marketing the drug as a major new drug in the future. Furthermore, in the company's native country of Sweden, research and development is under way with collaboration between industry and academia, such as research and development in collaboration with Lund University.

Toyota Tsusho, on the other hand, has been making efforts in the creation of new businesses in the field of life sciences, by launching a pharmaceutical development support business, through such means as signing exclusive agency agreements for Japan with companies synthesizing chemical compounds used in research for the creation of new drugs and research for chemical compounds on consignment. In this instance, Toyota Tsusho will provide the new drug candidate chemical compounds of Respiiratorius and promote support for negotiations to receive consignments for conducting evaluations on candidate chemical compounds to and from pharmaceutical manufacturers in Japan, as a part of efforts to expand the new drug creation support business in the pharmaceutical business field.

Activities in the life sciences field will be continually enhanced by Toyota Tsusho, including the pharmaceutical development support business, as a driving force behind the company's business activities in the non-automotive business fields, while aiming to expand the revenue base of Toyota Tsusho through cooperative developments and the promotion of desirable projects.

(1) Provision of new drug candidate chemical compounds:
Business activities that pertain to licensing, cooperative developments and other relevant mediating services intended for pharmaceutical manufacturers in Japan, in relation to new drug candidate chemical compounds.

(2) Consigned evaluation services:
All business activities that pertain to orders received and other relevant services relating to the consigned testing for chemical compound evaluation tests using lung tissue, from pharmaceutical manufacturers in Japan.

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