EPD Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tomohisa Hayakawa; hereinafter referred to as EPD) has signed a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ Co., Ltd. (Representative Director: Masahiko Kikuchi, hereinafter referred to as C-HAS+) for exploring useful substances for prevention and improvement of obesity and obesity-related diseases contained in natural products.

【Release Highlights】
・EPD focuses on the potential to detect any candidate substances of ingredient for pharmaceuticals and food preventing and improving obesity and metabolic diseases by human brown adipocytes models.
・EPD has concluded a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ and has initiated to explore useful substances contained in natural products utilizing a drug discovery-oriented plant database and abundant natural product banks of C-HAS+.

【Release Details】
　According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² ) in Japan is 33.0% in men and 22.3% in women aged 20 years and older¹⁾, with a significant increase in men during the decade ending in 2019. In addition to diabetes and hypertension, obesity-caused or -associated health problems include serious diseases such as coronary heart disease and cerebral infarction. Obesity also imposes a substantial economic burden on society. The OECD has reported that approximately 8.4% of healthcare expenditures are spent on treating obesity-related diseases in 2 / 3 OECD countries. ²⁾
　EPD possesses direct reprogramming technology to generate brown adipocytes from human skin cells. By using this technology, it is possible to create a simple and inexpensive human brown adipocytes model (ciBAs), so that various compounds are applied to ciBAs, and the activity (browning) of brown adipocytes is evaluated (screened) and there is a possibility to discover any candidate substances of ingredient for pharmaceuticals and food preventing and improving obesity and metabolic diseases.
　This time, EPD has concluded a joint research agreement with C-HAS+ and has initiated to explore useful substances contained in natural products utilizing a drug discovery-oriented plant database and abundant natural product banks of C-HAS+.

【Reference】
1) Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare The National Health and Nutrition Survey in Japan, 2019
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_14156.html
2) OECD Library The Heavy Burden of Obesity The Economics of Prevention
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/the-heavy-burden-of-obesity/summary/english_f563de08-en

【About EPD Co., Ltd.】
　EPD Co., Ltd. was established by EPS Creative Health Technology Group Limited in 2021 to develop its own pipeline of drug discovery in the healthcare field. Through its brown adipocyte derivative technology, the company aims to contribute to improving people’s health.

【About C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.】
　It is a startup company from university established in 2022 to promote the business for natural products and technology of Kumamoto University. We aim to create a Healthy and Happy Society harmonized Nature & Life together with the natural resource exploration tools (original natural products bank, plant information databases oriented toward material development and C-HAS which is a healthy life expectancy assessment system using C. elegans (nematodes)) as core technologies.

Inquiries regarding this matter
EPD Co., Ltd.
Shinji Kondo
E-mail：kondo.shinji385@eps.co.jp

C-HAS+ Co., Ltd.
Kyoko Ozawa
E-mail：info@c-hasplus.co.jp