FRONTEO’s life sciences AI business “DDAIF” has 4 out-licensing candidates, with 1–2 expected to be out-licensed this fiscal year. The company is also pursuing full-scale expansion into the US market and the rollout of AI medical devices.
Centered on its life sciences AI business “DDAIF,” FRONTEO already has a pipeline of 4 out-licensing candidates. It is said that 1–2 could be out-licensed to pharmaceutical companies during the current fiscal year, and new drug discovery across multiple areas, including fibrosis, is attracting attention. The full-scale rollout of the AI medical device “TalkLab KIBIT” is also progressing.
At the core of “DDAIF” is the AI system “KIBIT,” which uses the “Toyoshiba Equation” devised by CSO Hiroyoshi Toyoshiba. It rapidly extracts target molecules with a high probability of drug-discovery success from tens of millions of pieces of literature data. Analysis has traditionally been conducted using CPUs alone, and the system is said to be capable of generating hypotheses.
Centered on the FRONTEO co-creation drug-discovery ecosystem, the company operates 4 business models: co-creation projects, DDAIF Innovation Bridge, a comprehensive co-creation model, and in-house research. In May, it opened the KIBIT AI Biology Lab and established a framework for progressing to wet-lab validation in collaboration with Tokyo University of Science, the University of Oklahoma and others.
For the current fiscal year, revenue of ¥1.5 billion and operating profit of ¥100 million are forecast. If out-licensing and the full-scale rollout of medical devices are achieved, earnings are likely to expand further. The company is also strengthening its global expansion, including entry into the US market and the appointment of a US integration adviser.