News Releases

Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Taiho Pharmaceutical") and SyntheticGestalt KK (hereinafter “SyntheticGestalt”） announced today that they have entered into an agreement to initiate technology validation to utilize SyntheticGestalt's world largest molecular foundation AI model, aiming towards the further expansion and evolvement of Taiho Pharmaceutical's proprietary drug discovery platform technology, Cysteinomix.

SyntheticGestalt has developed an innovative foundation AI model (SG4D10B^*) which is trained on 10 billion compound data points. This foundation AI model features the ability to improve the prediction accuracy of molecular profiles for new compounds by learning a large amount of complex 3D structure molecules. By using this model as an additional learning and inference target in compound libraries owned by companies, each company can easily build its own exploration platform.
*SG4D10B: The world's largest molecule-specialized foundation AI model developed by SyntheticGestalt. It solves the challenges of conventional molecular AI technologies, specifically low prediction accuracy and poor generalization performance. It enabｌes high-precision model development even with small-scale data held by pharmaceutical companies and chemical manufacturers. It contributes to the efficiency of new drug and new material development through significant reduction in development time and research costs.This model was developed with support from GENIAC (Generative AI Accelerator Challenge) program implemented by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Taiho Pharmaceutical has established its unique drug discovery platform Cysteinomix, with its proprietary covalent compound library at its core. This platform has a track record of creating an agent already approved in Japan, the United States and Europe, and multiple agents currently in clinical development. In order to further strengthen and increase the competitive advantage of this drug discovery platform, the company is working to expand the application of Cysteinomix, including the discovery of covalent drugs targeting amino acids other than cysteine.

SyntheticGestalt’s CTO, Kotaro Kamiya commented, "By applying our 4D exploration technology, which incorporates spatial structures and charge information, to covalent drug libraries, we can contribute to the discovery of innovative covalent drugs."

Taiho Pharmaceutical’s Executive Director, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, Discovery & Preclinical Research, Takeshi Sagara commented, "By applying SyntheticGestalt's proprietary generative AI platform into our Cysteinomix drug discovery platform, we aim to increase the success rate of discovering covalent drugs for targets which have been considered as undruggable for a long time. We will continue to advance the discovery of innovative new drugs with Cysteinomix, and remain committed to provide cancer therapies which can support patients with cancer through their entire patient journey."

Cysteinomix is Taiho Pharmaceutical's proprietary drug discovery platform to continuously generate covalent drugs in variety of cysteine-containing target proteins. Cysteinomix drug discovery platform consists of target protein database, covalent compound library, and various compound evaluation systems, and has a track record of creating multiple pipelines to date.
*Covalent drug: A drug which forms a covalent bond with a target protein to irreversibly control its function. It consists of a portion that binds to the pocket of the protein (ligand) and a portion that covalently binds to the specific amino acid (reactant group).

SyntheticGestalt develops AI technology specialized in molecular information. In 2024 and 2025, we unveiled the world's largest molecule-specific foundation model at NVIDIA GTC (one of the world's largest AI conference). Our molecular foundation model resolves accuracy challenges faced by conventional molecular AI. We aim to apply this technology across various fields including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agrochemicals, and new materials. Our mission is to contribute to the advancement of civilization through AI-driven innovations.

Taiho Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. ( https://www.otsuka.com/en/ ), is an R&D-driven specialty pharma focusing on the fields of oncology and immune-related diseases. Its corporate philosophy takes the form of a pledge: “We strive to improve human health and contribute to a society enriched by smiles.” In the field of oncology, in particular, Taiho Pharmaceutical is known as a leading company in Japan for developing innovative medicines for the treatment of cancer, a reputation that is rapidly expanding through their extensive global R&D efforts. In areas other than oncology, as well, the company creates and markets quality products that effectively treat medical conditions and can help improve people’s quality of life. Always putting customers first, Taiho Pharmaceutical also aims to offer consumer healthcare products that support people’s efforts to lead fulfilling and rewarding lives. For more information about Taiho Pharmaceutical, please visit https://www.taiho.co.jp/en/