Eisai and Charles River Laboratories Announce Extension of Integrated Drug Discovery Partnership

Hatfield, England and Wilmington, Massachusetts (ots/PRNewswire) -

Companies to continue collaboration in discovery of next
generation anti-malaria drugs

Eisai Co., Ltd. (http://www.eisai.com/) (TYO: 4523), a leading
global research and development-based pharmaceutical company, and
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.
(http://www.criver.com) (NYSE: CRL), a leading early-stage contract
research organization (CRO), today announce an agreement to extend
their two-year collaboration in integrated drug discovery for another
year. The continued collaboration strengthens the ongoing partnership
between the two companies, focusing on the discovery of novel
treatments for tropical and neurological diseases at Eisai's 14.5
acre, state-of-the-art European Knowledge Centre.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to continue our good work
with the Charles River scientists at our European Knowledge Centre,
in order to address the unmet medical needs of patients and their
families" said Gary Hendler, Chairman & CEO Eisai EMEA. "As a
collaborative partner, Charles River has a proven track record of
success in drug discovery and innovative chemistry capabilities. This
partnership supports Eisai's commitment to investigating and
developing innovative treatments, in line with our human health care
mission."

This close collaboration between Eisai and Charles River across a
range of early discovery projects will deliver operational and cost
efficiencies through customised strategic solutions at the European
Knowledge Centre site in Hatfield, UK. The initial research was
funded by the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund
(https://ghitfund.org/)) and will now see researchers working closely
with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (http://www.mmv.org/) (MMV), a
multinational fund that supports the discovery of new anti-malarial
compounds that aim to fight drug-resistant strains of the disease.

Malaria is one of the three most prominent infectious diseases in
the world, caused by parasites transmitted to humans through a
mosquito bite. According to the World Health Organization, malaria
kills approximately 429,000 people every year.[1] Although treatment
options for malaria exist, experts believe that malaria parasites are
developing drug resistance, highlighting the urgent need for
alternative treatments.

"With a strong heritage in research, Eisai continues to be the
ideal partner as we step up to take on malaria, which continues to
infect over 200 million people a year worldwide," said Birgit
Girshick, Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Discovery, at
Charles River. "Our scientists have integrated seamlessly into
Eisai's existing team, bringing together extremely talented
researchers to work on this complex disease."

This partnership is an example of Eisai's commitment to Open
Innovation and novel collaborative working practices. This
announcement underscores Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission, the
company's commitment to innovative solutions in disease prevention,
cure and care for the health and well-being of people worldwide.

Notes to Editors

About Eisai Co., Ltd.

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based
pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our
corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their
families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which
we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With over 10,000
employees working across our global network of R&D facilities,
manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize
our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in various
therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including Oncology
and Neurology.

As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients
around the world through our investment and participation in
partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in
developing and emerging countries.

For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit
www.eisai.com.

About Charles River

Charles River provides essential products and services to help
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and
leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their
research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees are
focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve
and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe
manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. To learn
more about our unique portfolio and breadth of services, visit
www.criver.com.

References

1. World Health Organization. Malaria media fact sheet. Available at:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/ . Last
accessed: May 2017.

Corporate-EU0019

May 2017

ots Originaltext: Eisai
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Susan E. Hardy
Corporate Vice President
Investor Relations
+1-781-222-6190
susan.hardy@crl.com
Media Contact: Amy Cianciaruso
Corporate Vice President
Public Relations
+1-781-222-6168
amy.cianciaruso@crl.com
Eisai
Helena Symeou
+44(0)7507-309895
Helena_Symeou@eisai.net
Tonic Life Communications
Ashley Lewis
+44-(0)207-340-6605
Ashley.Lewis@toniclc.com

Original-Content von: Eisai, übermittelt durch news aktuell