NATiAS is implementing novel initiatives to fulfill the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mission.
These initiatives include:
Academic Price
In recent years, oligonucleotide therapeutics have been drawing attention as a new drug modality.
While oligonucleotides are primarily used in hereditary rare diseases, they are expected to expand to more widespread diseases, including cancer.
NATiAS acknowledges that the cost of oligonucleotides is very high and, for this reason, we are offering discounted oligonucleotide price for academic institutions to reduce the financial burden of R&Ds in academia.
Free-of-charge oligonucleotides for Academic Researchers of Rare and Intractable Diseases
NATiAS provides free oligonucleotides to academic researchers focused on rare and intractable diseases in order to accelerate the availability of these treatments to as many patients as possible.
Factors hindering research on oligonucleotides for rare and incurable diseases
Major pharmaceutical companies are forced to exclude rare diseases from their portfolios due to their low profitability. While academia can engage in rare disease research, it is difficult to obtain research funds from pharmaceutical companies to sponsor it. Therefore, very few cases lead to actual drug development.
Oligonucleotide therapeutics are being developed in areas with high unmet medical needs. They are considered a new drug modality because they exert pharmacological effects through new mechanisms of action, which differ from conventional drugs.
However, due to the high cost of oligonucleotides, research opportunities are limited, and their development towards commercialization has been stagnant, especially in Japanese academia.