Rege Nephro Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kyoto City, Representative Director: Toshihiro Ishikiriyama, hereinafter referred to as “Rege Nephro”) is pleased to announce that it has raised a total of 1,392 million yen through a third-party allotment of shares.

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd., Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co., Ltd., JAFCO Group Co., Ltd., M3, Inc., Asahi Kasei Corporation, SMBC Venture Capital Co., Ltd., DM Capital Ltd., Healthcare Innovation Co., Ltd., Shimadzu Co., Ltd., Kyogin Lease & Capital Co., Ltd., Chushin Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and Yam Overseas Co., Ltd., a total of 12 companies participates as the company itself or the Investment Limited Partnership operated by the company.

Rege Nephro is a venture company established in September 2019 based on the research results of Professor Kenji Osafune of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University. Professor Osafune has succeeded in establishing a technology for highly efficient production of nephron progenitor cells from iPS cells, starting with the world’s first discovery of the existence of nephron progenitor cells, which are a type of renal progenitor cells during the embryonic period.

The number of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) is consistently increasing with the aging of society, and the number of CKD patients is 13% of the adult population in Japan, reaching about 13 million. There are few effective medicines and treatment techniques for treating CKD at this time, except for kidney transplantation, which has a serious donor shortage problem, and there is no choice but to provide symptomatic treatment. When CKD worsens, dialysis becomes necessary, but the number of dialysis patients is increasing year by year, and the current annual medical expenses are over 1.5 trillion yen. The development of technology to improve the symptoms of CKD and reduce the number of dialysis patients is an urgent social issue.

The iPS cell-derived nephron progenitor cells invented by Professor Osafune have been shown to improve renal damage in animal experiments. In the future, Rege Nephro will work on the practical application of cell medicine containing iPS cell-derived nephron progenitor cells as an active ingredient, and aim to obtain regulatory approval for CKD as an indication.

With this funding, Rege Nephro will be able to manufacture non-clinical test formulations for the practical application of cell therapy using iPS cell-derived renal progenitor cells and conduct non-clinical safety studies using them. Rege Nephro will accelerate its business under the mission of improving the quality of life (QOL) of patients suffering from kidney disease and contributing to society.

<Overview of Rege Nephro>
Rege Nephro Co., Ltd.
Representative Director: Toshihiro Ishikiriyama
Address: 46-29 Yoshidashimoadachi-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
Kyoto University Med-Pharm Collaboration Building
Business: R & D, production and sales of therapeutic agents for renal diseases Established: September 2019
URL: https://www.regenephro.co.jp

<Inquiries regarding this matter>
Katsuhisa Yamaguchi (a member of Board of Directors, CFO / General Manager of Finance & Administration)
TEL: +81-75-744-6858
E-mail: info@regenephro.co.jp