Xeureka and Sumitomo Pharma Conclude Joint Research Agreement on Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Xeureka Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Taisei Nagae; hereinafter "Xeureka") has concluded a joint research agreement with Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (Osaka Prefecture; President: Toru Kimura; hereinafter "Sumitomo Pharma") regarding small molecule drug discovery.

In this joint research, both companies will design and evaluate new small molecule compounds for targets identified by Sumitomo Pharma, according to their respective roles, aiming to create novel drug candidate compounds. Xeureka will promote this joint research by utilizing its advanced computational drug discovery technologies, including its independently developed Free Energy Perturbation* program "Xeureka FEP" and molecular generation tool "XE-Generator**."

Based on its large-scale supercomputers and unique computational drug discovery technologies, Xeureka provides drug discovery support services that utilize various computational methods such as AI and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. Moving forward, Xeureka will continue to meet the diverse needs of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, contributing to significant improvements in the efficiency and success rate of drug discovery research.

* Free Energy Perturbation: A statistical mechanics-based method for calculating the free energy change associated with ligand-protein binding, and one of the means to predict activity with high accuracy.

**XE-Generator: A molecular generation tool independently developed by Xeureka. In addition to common methods such as Matched Molecular Pair (MMP)-based structural transformation, bioisostere substitution, and reaction-based molecular generation, it is centered around over 6,000 structural transformation rules meticulously constructed by experienced medicinal chemists based on their experience and knowledge gained in drug discovery. This enables the comprehensive generation of thousands to hundreds of thousands of practical compound structures starting from an input structure.

【Xeureka Inc. Overview】 Location: 3-2-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Representative: Taisei Nagae Established: November 2021 Shareholder: Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (100%) Business Activities: Providing AI drug discovery support services and computational environments (supercomputers) to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and promoting joint research and development for drug discovery. URL: https://xeureka.co.jp/

【Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. Overview】 Location: 2-6-8 Doshomachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka Representative: Toru Kimura Established: May 1897 Business Activities: Manufacturing and sales of ethical pharmaceuticals, etc. URL: https://www.sumitomo-pharma.co.jp/