Mitsui Chemicals announced that it has invested in Rege Nephro Co., a company conducting R&D primarily for clinical kidney disease drugs, via 321FORCE Global Innovation Fund L.P.

Rege Nephro is a clinical-stage drug discovery startup utilizing technology based on initial research from Professor OSAFUNE Kenji of Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA).

The company uses iPS cells to develop treatments for diseases relating to the kidney, pancreas and liver. In addition to working on cell therapy that transplants cells derived by inducing differentiation from iPS cells into patients to treat them, Rege Nephro uses pathological models constructed from patient-derived cells, or from cells derived from differentiation-induced iPS cells for a specific disease, to search for and develop new treatments.

Mitsui Chemicals has been working with Rege Nephro and CiRA since 2022 on joint research aimed at developing exosomes as a new modality (treatment method).

Mitsui Chemicals is positioning the cell culture sector as a growth sector for the future, and is engaged in development of cell culture plates and devices using proprietary Mitsui Chemicals technologies and assets.