Japanese firm Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has announced the decision to construct a core research laboratory, Chugai Life Science Park Yokohama, at a business site owned in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In addition, Chugai decided to consolidate the functions of Fuji Gotemba Research Laboratories and Kamakura Research Laboratories, located in Gotemba city, Shizuoka Prefecture and Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, respectively, to the new research center promptly, and to close both research centers.

Fuji Gotemba and Kamakura Research Laboratories have been leading the development of next-generation antibody technology, middle molecule drug discovery technology, and research on innovative new drug discovery. 

Accompanying the recent progress in utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) and laboratory automation, Chugai claims that it is necessary to integrate, share, and utilize platforms of various research functions in order to promote drug discovery and their multifaceted assessment more efficiently. For this reason, the company has determined to consolidate the research functions that were located in two sites into Chugai Life Science Park Yokohama, and establish a system to maximize our R&D function.

At the newly constructed Yokohama Research Laboratories, Chugai aims to accelerate drug discovery and deliver innovative new drugs to patients around the world at an extraordinary speed, by bringing together the individual strengths of Fuji Gotemba and Kamakura Research Laboratories that have been honed over the years, and leading from further deepening of knowledge on the disease pathology to creative target identification, in addition to strengthening the core drug discovery technology.

A total investment of 127.3 billion yen has been made for the construction of the Chugai Life Science Park, that is targeted to be completed by August, 2022.