New Growth Path

In modern agriculture, food crises due to labor shortages and abnormal weather, as well as the environmental impact caused by pesticides and chemical fertilizers, have become major social issues. Peptide agriculture, which we aim to put into practical use in FY2023, is a technology that maximizes the innate functions of plants by giving peptides, which are biostimulants,* to vegetables and fruit trees. Peptides are expected to improve in quality and yield through the mitigation of their damage due to disease and climate change, and to help reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. By making full use of our fundamental technologies, such as interface control technology, we can produce peptides extracted from natural products, including unused resources, and fermentation-produced peptides derived from natural products. This will provide the world’s first agricultural solution using multiple functional peptides. As a pioneering attempt, we plan to sell peptide fertilizers and then provide peptide spraying methods suitable for each crop and techniques for preserving product freshness, with the aim of building a business model that contributes to the production of high-value-added vegetables and fruits.

• Biostimulants:
  • This is a new technology that reduces plant damage caused by climate and soil conditions by controlling abiotic stresses (high and low temperatures, physical damage, etc.) to plants in order to provide healthy plants. Its global market size is expected to be three billion dollars, with an average annual growth rate of more than 12%.

In recent years, body fluid components, called “exosome-containing extracellular vesicles,” have been attracting considerable attention in medical fields that are directly linked to improving QOL, such as disease discovery and regenerative medicine. It is expected that the research market alone will grow to over 100 billion yen by 2030. Jointly with Tokushima University, we have developed EXORPTION®, a method for collecting extracellular vesicles from various body fluids with high efficiency, high yield, and a high degree of purification, by applying the body fluid component collection technology and know-how that we have cultivated in the in vitro diagnostic reagent business. By disseminating this technology, we aim to support new diagnostic and therapeutic research using extracellular vesicles, and to implement diagnostic agents to which this technology is applied in clinical settings.

Immunoassay-based in vitro diagnostic reagents are used for the purpose of diagnosing diseases, and their domestic market size reached approximately 250 billion yen in 2021. We have developed reagents dedicated to Accuraseed®* that use our unique magnetic particles, Magrapid. These are in vitro diagnostic reagents that enable rapid immunoassay in just 10 minutes. Since these agents dedicated to Accuraseed® were launched jointly with FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation in November 2015, their lineup has expanded to include 30 inspection items, including thyroid diseases and infectious diseases. This helps meet the need for rapid diagnosis in clinical settings. In June 2022, Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. and FUJIFILM Corporation established FUJIFILM Sanyo Chemical Healthcare Corporation to consolidate the production systems for the reagents dedicated to Accuraseed® of both companies. We will strengthen our production base to achieve high productivity and respond to the growing demand for in vitro diagnostic reagents.

• Accuraseed®:
  • Fully automated chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay system manufactured by FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation

As Japan’s aging society progresses, an increasing number of people are suffering from diabetic skin ulcers, pressure ulcers, knee osteoarthritis, and other diseases. In particular, many patients whose natural healing powers have declined due to aging are finding it increasingly difficult to recover with conventional treatments. It is said that there are 150,000 patients with refractory skin ulcers and eight million patients with knee osteoarthritis in Japan.
We use the functional protein “silk-elastin,” which is under development at the company, for such patients to enhance their natural healing powers, thereby trying to heal their wounds (tissue regeneration) that could not be healed by conventional treatments. Since 2016, we have conducted clinical trials on skin defect regeneration and meniscus repair to confirm the efficacy and safety of silk-elastin. We plan to implement it in society by 2024 as a regenerative medical device “wound healing material” intended to regenerate refractory skin defects. We also plan to implement it in society by 2026 as a meniscus repair for patients with knee osteoarthritis. We aim to extend healthy life expectancy through silk-elastin to contribute to improving the QOL of the elderly.

Reproduction of the five human senses is being actively studied in order to cope with the recent IoT trends and realize next-generation communication using the five senses. In particular, it is difficult to reproduce the olfactory sense, and products and services that visualize odors and aromas have yet to be fully and practically implemented in society. Digital olfactory technology, which digitally identifies and quantifies specific odors, is expected to be applied in the medical field and the life-related fields including food and beverages, and its market size is expected to reach $3.12 trillion by 2026.
The Group provides 3,000 types of functional chemicals. By using the technology and knowledge that we have acquired in this field, we have developed a highly practical electric nose that can be easily customized for various odors.
In addition to this feature, our electric nose is characterized by the ability to quickly and continuously identify complex mixed odors, which is difficult for commercially available gas sensors.
Toward the commercialization of electric noses, we are working on initiatives that use electric noses to contribute to the improvement of QOL. For instance, we consider the visualization of sanitary environment conditions to improve the environmental and enhance work efficiency as well as the visualization of the aroma of foods and luxury items. We aim for the early commercialization of electric noses to create new value through the visualization of odors.