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Rakuten and Shimadzu partner on a medical device to be used with the Illuminox platform

Press releases may be edited for formatting or style | June 18, 2021 Business Affairs
SAN MATEO, Calif. and KYOTO, Japan, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Medical, Inc. (HQ: San Mateo, Calif.; Chairman and CEO: Hiroshi Mikitani; hereinafter "Rakuten Medical") and Shimadzu Corporation (HQ: Kyoto, Japan; President and CEO: Teruhisa Ueda; hereinafter "Shimadzu") today announced a joint development and commercialization agreement to advance a medical device for use on the Illuminox™ platform. This partnership will allow for the development of a medical device using optical measurement technologies to support cancer treatment by photoimmunotherapy.

Therapies developed on the Illuminox platform involve administering a targeting moiety conjugated with one or more dyes, which is illuminated by light at a specific wavelength. Light illumination of the targeted cells transiently excites the drug, and pre-clinical data have shown this excitation elicits rapid and selective necrosis of targeted cells through a biophysical process.

Based on this agreement, both companies will use their expertise to work toward the joint development of technology that will allow visualization, measurement, and recording of the reaction of the dye to light illumination in real-time. This will allow for optimization of light irradiation depending on the tumor. Both companies will cooperate to aim for commercialization of the medical device using the technology on a worldwide basis.

Rakuten Medical is developing therapies on its Illuminox platform, an investigational treatment platform based on a cancer therapy called photoimmunotherapy developed by Dr. Kobayashi and team from the National Cancer Institute in the United States. In September 2020, Rakuten Medical announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Rakuten Medical Japan K.K. received conditional marketing approval in Japan from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for ASP-1929 Photoimmunotherapy and a laser light device to treat unresectable locally advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer, and began commercialization in January 2021. Shimadzu is focusing on creating innovative products and services, which combine analytical measurements with diagnostic imaging in the healthcare field. Utilizing its measurement technologies, Shimadzu has worked with cancer institutes in both USA and Japan for the development of photoimmunotherapy at the pre-clinical stage.


About Rakuten Medical, Inc.
Rakuten Medical, Inc. is a global biotechnology company developing precision, cell-targeting investigational therapies on its Illuminox™ platform, which, in pre-clinical studies have been shown to induce rapid and selective cell killing and tumor necrosis. Outside of Japan, Illuminox therapies have not yet been approved as safe or effective by any regulatory authority. Rakuten Medical is committed to its mission to conquer cancer and aims to realize a society where cancer patients can lead fulfilling lives. With its headquarters, and research and development base in the United States, Rakuten Medical has 6 locations in 5 countries, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Switzerland. For more information, visit www.rakuten-med.com.

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