Business model

A venture company specializing in new drug development

Biotech venture companies are actively engaged in the field of life science, which encompasses the development of drugs and medical devices as well as regenerative medicine. DWTI is a venture company that specializes in the discovery and development of new drugs by drawing on our experience and prowess in biotechnology.

Why is there a need for biotech venture companies?

1 Unmet medical needs, diseases for which no cure has been found, are expanding

It is said that there are roughly 30,000 types of diseases that affect human beings. Only a small number of these can be treated with drugs and other medical treatments. There are many diseases with no cure at all, or for which existing drugs do not provide satisfactory treatment outcomes. These are called unmet medical needs. Biotech venture companies are attracting worldwide attention for their role in meeting the desperate needs of patients and society suffering from these diseases.

2 Our mission in society is to take on high-risk, high-return challenges

Meeting unmet medical needs is a task that pharmaceutical companies cannot accomplish on their own. Society looks to universities and biotech venture companies to play an active part here. They fulfill this new role by discovering new drug “seeds” and by specializing in research and development of these seeds. It is true that drug discovery research carries with it both high risks and high returns. At DWTI, however, we feel this is the mission biotech ventures should carry out in society. We take pride in our work, and continue to take on new challenges for the sake of patients suffering from diseases for which there is no cure.

3 The mainstream of drug discovery in the U.S.

For many years, development moved forward for drugs which targeted large patient populations. For this reason, the scale of R&D investment was an important factor. Advances in technology, however, have now made it possible to develop and deliver more effective drugs to smaller, more specific patient groups. Consequently, the emphasis now is on the efficiency of R&D investment. In this context, because biotech venture companies are able to move forward with development by zooming in on specific target diseases and patient populations, they are said to have high development efficiency. In the U.S., depending on the year, about 60% to 80% of new drugs are developed by biotech ventures.

(Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Current Status and Issues of Biotech Venture Companies [November 15, 2017])

Business model

New drug development process