Capital and business tie-up agreement signed on creation of businesses fusing Toppan’s 3D cell culture technologies with Myoridge’s culture medium development 

Tokyo – Toppan, a global leader in communication, security, packaging, décor materials, and electronics solutions, and Myoridge Co. Ltd. (Myoridge), a start-up spun out of Kyoto University, have this month concluded a capital and business tie-up agreement focused on advancing products, services, and R&D in the field of cell culture.

Toppan’s proprietary 3D cell culture technology enables quick and easy preparation of flexible co-culture models with layered structure, from diverse cell sources.?It is expected to have applications in a wide range of fields, such as personalized medicine, cultured foods, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery, including aspects such as efficacy and toxicity testing. The collaboration will aim to accelerate the development of Toppan’s 3D cell culture technology and generate new related products and services through the synergies between the two companies.

Toppan’s Technical Research Institute is currently conducting R&D in the field of Healthcare & Life Sciences, which is positioned as one of the company’s growth fields. In the field of drug discovery, Toppan has established a joint laboratory within the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research to support the development of anticancer drugs and is advancing clinical research targeting alternatives to the use of mice for drug testing. Toppan is also proactively collaborating with academic institutions and other businesses, establishing the Joint Research Laboratory (TOPPAN) for Advanced Cell Regulatory Chemistry at the Osaka University Graduate School of Engineering in April 2017 and conducting fundamental research on 3D cell culture technology in collaboration with the university’s Professor Michiya Matsusaki.

Myoridge is a start-up company that was launched based on the results of research by Kyoto University. It sells cell products and culture media, provides culture medium development support, and offers comprehensive development support covering every process related to cell culture, including base materials, operation methods, and equipment. Myoridge has its own database of low-molecular compounds as well as technology for searching the components of culture media and delivers diverse services based on its strength in designing and providing a range of culture media at low cost.

Culture media are essential for cell culture. However, troubleshooting in a short timeframe is considered to be challenging without specialist knowledge and experience due to the complex combinations of diverse components that produce effects. Development of products and services presents a number of challenges, and a common issue in such fields as regenerative medicine, antibody drugs, cell therapy, and cultured foods is the difficulty of mass culture at low cost while maintaining a high level of quality.

The tie-up between Toppan and Myoridge will accelerate the development of 3D cell culture technology and the creation of new businesses in the field of cell culture by leveraging the technologies and know-how of the two companies to target stable supply of culture media, development of culture media that comply with relevant regulations, and reduction of the cost of culture media at increased scale. Going forward, Toppan and Myoridge will drive technical collaboration and joint development aiming to create new products and services in the field and contribute to a range of industries and their technologies.

For more information, visit https://myoridge.co.jp/en/. 

Visit https://www.toppan.com/en/ or follow Toppan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/toppan/.