Mediford supports all stages of its customers’
research and development, contributing to
the development of new therapies.
Kei Shimizu
Mediford Corporation
Representative Director and President
Message
Mediford Corporation seeks to present new possibilities for society. This new company is based on the combination of our advanced analytical skills and deep knowledge of disease states, our abundant experience in developing methods to accomplish our goals, the wide range of services we provide, and trusted relationships with our stakeholders. We believe that delivering new value and options to society will contribute to the evolution of medical care and drug discovery and lead to more diverse and flexible approaches to treatment. We envision a world where each person can choose for themselves how to achieve their mental and physical health, peace of mind, and fulfillment in life. This is what we are aiming for.
Main Customers
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Manufacturers
- Research institutions/universities
- Drug discovery venture companies
Overview
Mediford Corporation was established on November 1, 2023, through the integration of the clinical trial business of LSI Medience Corporation and LSIM Safety Institute Corporation, which was responsible for our non-clinical business.
In our clinical trial business, we provide clinical trial testing services required to develop new drugs and treatments for pharmaceutical companies and drug discovery ventures. In particular, we offer bioanalysis services with advanced analysis technology and a series of processes related to testing in clinical trials as central laboratory services.
In our non-clinical business, we provide contract services for non-clinical safety trials, such as safety and efficacy for candidate substances for pharmaceuticals and regenerative medicine products before they proceed to clinical trials. We conduct testing at contract testing facilities that comply with the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Standards, a sign of quality and reliable data.
Through the integration, Mediford Corporation has combined the knowledge and technology in pharmaceutical research and development that both businesses have accumulated, strengthening its analytical technology in both the non-clinical and clinical trial fields for diversifying new treatments and expanding its services to pharmaceutical companies and analytical laboratories within and outside Japan. We will seek to enhance our partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and academia in the field of advanced analysis, aiming for further growth.
Strengths
- High quality and reliable trial services
Each testing site is a GLP compliant facility and conducts high-quality and reliable trials. We also conduct animal trials and have obtained certification from the International Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC International). This association is an international non-governmental organization promoting the humane treatment of animals in scientific research, and at Mediford we are committed to world-class standards in the care and use of animals.
- Cutting-edge analytical equipment and technology that also supports personalized medicine
We maintain and manage a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) library in which patient tumor tissues are transplanted into mice, allowing us to conduct cutting-edge tests such as anti-cancer drug screening tests using PDX. We also have the latest equipment such as imaging mass spectrometry. In addition, we are developing and examining technologies and devices useful for solving issues in drug development, such as 3D culture technologies, including organoids and Microphysiological Systems (MPS), as well as options for collaboration with other companies and introducing such technologies and devices into our services.
- Providing solutions that meet customer needs
For clinical trial testing, we design the tests required by our customers and provide optimized solutions. We also provide consulting services in the field of non-clinical trials, from planning to implementation of trial strategies, allowing us to provide custom solutions for each customer.
What’s new
Today, we face an ever-increasing need to reduce the time required for drug development and to improve the probability of success, in response to the declining market share of Japanese drugs in the global market. We are actively collaborating with other companies to solve these issues. The study with the Central Institute for Experimental Medicine and Life Science (CIEM), a partnership that began in March 2024, aims to bring the results of basic medical research into the marketplace utilizing our proprietary drug development technology platform, and to popularize and share the results outside Japan in the future.
Additionally, the Shonan Drug Discovery Support Consortium, launched in March 2024 with four partner companies gathered at the Shonan Health Innovation Park (Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture), will support drug discovery and development by pharmaceutical companies, venture companies, and academia, and offer a level of assistance not possible through the efforts of a single company alone. (As of March 2024)
Employee Voices
Mediford Corporation presented a poster at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japan Pharmacological Society in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, in December 2023. Preparing the experiments and presentations in parallel with daily work was challenging but rewarding. For preparation, we explored using a newly introduced device for an evaluation system . I learned to use the new device by referring to the paper and succeeded in establishing a new evaluation system. To perfect our presentation, I had repeated discussions with my managers about interpreting data and drawing conclusions to shape the research results. On the day of the poster presentation, we received questions from many visitors, and we exchanged opinions on the results interpretation and future potential issues. So many visitors expressed interest in our exhibit, I was pleased and felt our efforts had paid off. I will continue to pursue my research vigorously, present papers at conferences, and strive to grow as a researcher at Mediford Corporation.
Department of Pharmacology Pharmacology Group 2
Kumamoto Research Institute Non-Clinical Division
Business Management DivisionNahoko Matsuki
Main Products/Services
We provide research and development support services in a wide range of fields, from basic research including the discovery phase of drug development to clinical trials, by combining the reliability of tests cultivated through our clinical trials and non-clinical trials businesses with the high analytical capabilities gained from our years of experience.
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Non-Clinical Contract Research Service
Utilizing facilities that meet state-of-the-art GLP standards, we conduct a wide variety of activities from tests for pharmaceutical approval applications to exploratory studies in the early stages of research and development and consulting.
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Bioanalysis Service
Development of analytical methods for drugs, such as their metabolites and biomarkers, in biological samples, validation of analytical methods, and measurement of actual samples.
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Central Laboratory Services
We support a series of processes from specimen collection to bulk testing for clinical research (clinical studies) conducted at medical institutions across Japan, responding to the globalization of drug development.
Mediford（CRO Division）
The non-clinical and clinical trial market in Japan is worth more than 200 billion yen, and is expected to grow by 4% annually due to increased government support for drug discovery ventures and academia, as well as an increase in international joint clinical trials.
By disease state, the focus has traditionally been on lifestyle-related diseases, but in the future there may be conditions such as dementia where the target molecules are not fully understood, and diseases such as cancer where the effects may vary between individuals even if the target is known. We expect the proportion of some diseases to increase. In drug development, due to changes in treatment methods, non-clinical and clinical trials of new drugs and treatments are expected to increase, from small molecule drugs to antibody/nucleic acid drugs and cell- or gene-related drugs.
With the launch of Mediford Corporation on November 1, 2023, we aimed to work toward even greater growth by combining the knowledge and technology in pharmaceutical research and development that previously existed in our separate non-clinical and clinical trial businesses.
We will further advance our analysis technologies such as image mass spectrometry and anti-cancer drug testing using Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) models, and further strengthen the analysis technologies required for new drugs and treatments such as cell and gene therapies.
In addition, by leveraging the advanced analysis technology mentioned above, we will pursue testing for clinical trials in Japan from pharmaceutical companies in other countries, as well as tests for international joint clinical trials from global contract research organizations (CROs) with which we are already collaborating.