InnovationInside the Innovation Center’s Research Environment: Advancing Early-Stage Drug Discovery (Part 1)

At Kyowa Kirin, we are strengthening our research capabilities as part of our commitment to delivering on the Story for Vision 2030. In 2025, we integrated and reorganized our research laboratories in Japan. Under this structure, early-stage exploratory research is advanced at the Innovation Center, while promising research is transferred to the Bio-Pharmaceutical Center and accelerated toward clinical development.

The Innovation Center featured here has a streamlined organizational structure. Under the leadership of Principal Investigators (PIs), who are experts in their respective fields, their teams collaborate flexibly across disciplines to advance research. In this article, we speak with two PIs about their research activities and how the establishment of the Innovation Center has transformed the research environment.

Masahiro Esaki (hereinafter Esaki) At the Innovation Center, we have teams dedicated to diseases and to technology. The disease-focused teams include Bone & Mineral, Hematological Diseases and Hemato oncology, and Rare Diseases. I’m on the team working on hemato oncology, which progress rapidly and are challenging to treat. We investigate how our technological capabilities can be leveraged to tackle these issues, with my team primarily focusing on developing new medicines using antibody technologies.

Katsuaki Usami (hereinafter Usami) The technology teams are organized by drug discovery modalities, including antibodies, gene therapies, and cell therapies. I’m responsible for the antibody technologies. Since the establishment of the Innovation Center, there has been a strong emphasis on collaboration between disease-focused and technology-focused teams. Occasionally, the disease teams ask us, “How should we approach targeting the molecules associated with this disease?” Conversely, team members working on antibody technologies might ask, “If we had this specific type of antibody technology, what disease-related needs could it address?”

Esaki Rather than working one-on-one, we move forward through interactions across multiple teams.

Usami That’s right. In the context of antibody technology, the molecules that antibodies bind to are known as antigens. Antibodies that bind to antigens closely associated with diseases have the potential to serve as the foundation for therapeutic drugs. For this reason, we ask, for example, to the hemato-oncology team, “Which molecules are specifically expressed in cancer cells?” If these molecules haven’t been identified yet, the hemato-oncology team collaborates with other teams to identify potential molecules for further investigation. Once a molecule is identified, they come back to us and ask, “Can we try to apply technology utilizing this molecule as an antigen?”

Usami When I first joined the company, I focused on research related to an antibody drug pipeline targeting cancer. In my fifth year, I shifted my attention to antibody technologies and had the opportunity to study abroad. After returning to Japan, I continued my work in early discovery, which I find particularly engaging.
For me, the process begins with visualizing the concepts as an animation in my mind. I imagine how the cells involved in the disease can be eliminated and then translate that vision into concrete technologies.
What I find most appealing is that even ideas that seem unrealistic by conventional standards can sometimes succeed in experiments. For instance, to enable antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), an important antibody function, to act specifically on pathogenic cells, I intentionally split the antibody in half an experiment while setting aside the stability that has traditionally been regarded as a defining feature of antibodies. Our company, Kyowa Kirin, has the POTELLIGENT^® Technology, and this work essentially represents a next-generation version of that innovation.
In this way, ideas that may initially seem unrealistic can yield unexpected results when tested experimentally. Witnessing those results lead to drug discovery is incredibly rewarding.

Esaki I joined the company as a researcher focused on developing cancer treatments. My work has primarily centered on small-molecule drug discovery, spanning from early discovery through clinical development. I’m particularly passionate about early discovery, as identifying new phenomena and targets is both exciting and fun.
While my research has included solid tumors, I have increasingly concentrated on hematologic cancers. Since the establishment of the Innovation Center, I’ve been able to dedicate more time to early discovery.
In the realm of clinical development, there were instances when our work was dictated by strict deadlines due to clinical trial schedules. However, with the Bio-Pharmaceutical Center now overseeing clinical development, roles have become more clearly defined. This shift has created an environment that allows us to focus on early discovery.

Esaki The disease and technology teams were based in separate research facilities before, but they’re now combined. Although teams are still organized by areas of expertise, discussions move forward much more quickly. My team includes chemists, biologists, antibody and peptide researchers, and pharmacology specialists, allowing us to pursue research from a wide range of perspectives.

Usami The process has certainly become smoother. Those of us on the technology side often pursue technological advancements quite deeply. However, when we presented new developments to the disease teams and asked for their feedback, we discovered that the level of sophistication we achieved wasn’t always necessary. When we consider only the perspective of antibody technology researchers, it can be unclear what is truly needed for a therapeutic drug. Now that the disease and technology teams are collaborating to develop research themes, it’s much easier to identify the level of technology that is genuinely required.

Esaki In that sense, it has become easier for us to express our needs. We often think, “If we could focus on core targets (molecules that play a significant role in diseases), we might achieve better treatments.” However, targeting these core molecules presents challenges, such as their low abundance, which can make achieving sufficient efficacy difficult, and their expression in normal tissues, raising concerns about potential side effects. Fortunately, since the technology teams are readily available, it’s now much simpler to consult with them about technologies that could help us overcome these challenges.

Usami Clearly defined challenges make it much easier to take action on the technology side. Active collaboration is a core concept of the Innovation Center, and I believe that intentional cooperation among the 11 PIs has led to promising research. Additionally, it’s not just the PIs; researchers are actively crossing team boundaries too, and collaborating in an open and engaging manner.

Esaki That’s true. Usami-san, your team’s average age is in the early thirties, right? Ours is about the same. Research themes often emerge through conversations among researchers, and that was already happening even before the Innovation Center was established.

Usami Over the years, I’ve initiated many research themes. Those of us currently in PI positions belong to a generation that has grown by developing our own research themes from an early stage and advancing them while encouraging collaboration. This is why we have high expectations for researchers to work together and adopt a bottom-up approach.

At the Innovation Center, we have created an environment that encourages proactive collaboration among researchers, promoting the generation of new ideas. In Part 2 of the article, we will explore mechanisms for fostering emergent creativity through researcher collaboration, team management, and the work environment.