Assistant Professor Satoshi Yatsu exhibited at Bio Japan 2024

Assistant Professor Yatsu Satoshi of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Teikyo Technology Transfer Center exhibited his research at Bio Japan 2024, which was held at Pacifico Yokohama (Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture) from Wednesday, October 9th to Friday, October 11th, 2024.
Bio Japan is an event aimed at business matching in a wide range of bioindustries, including drug discovery, healthcare, and energy, and promotes collaborative research and commercialization with many domestic and international companies and research institutes. Many companies and universities from various countries and regions participated, and the total number of visitors over the three days was 18,003.
At this exhibition, Assistant Professor Yatsu introduced "Research on the development of a drug for treating diabetic retinopathy using a vitamin D analog library." Many visitors came to the exhibition every day, and on the final day he also gave a presentation, during which he actively exchanged opinions with various people from companies and research institutions.

Assistant Professor Yatsu's research discovered that vitamin D analogs may be effective as preventive and therapeutic drugs for diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy is one of the three major complications of diabetes, and in Japan, approximately 3,000 people become blind due to diabetic retinopathy each year. Diabetic retinopathy continues to progress if blood sugar levels are poorly controlled for a long period of time, and as the progression progresses, it becomes more difficult to treat, so the development of a drug that can suppress its progression in the early stages is eagerly awaited. In recent years, it has also been reported that the worsening of diabetic retinopathy is related to vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, Assistant Professor Yatsu is currently conducting research on the development of vitamin D analogs as preventive and therapeutic drugs for diabetic retinopathy. Compared to previous drugs, this drug may be effective in preventing and treating diabetic retinopathy in the early stages, so there is a high social need for it.
A patent application is currently pending for this research, and in the future we aim to develop the drug into an oral medication or eye drop that is easy to use for patients and medical professionals.

Going forward, our university will continue to actively give back to society the intellectual property it holds and support the research activities of researchers.

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