Daiichi Sankyo to Invest in the Healthcare Venture Fund.

Tokyo, Japan, Sept 8, 2006 - (JCN) - Daiichi Sankyo announced that it will establish a new healthcare venture fund. The new fund is the successor fund to a healthcare venture fund that Sankyo established in 2003 as part of its strategy to improve its information gathering activities.

Sankyo obtained various outcomes to assess the possibility of in-license such as CS-9803 from KAI Pharmaceuticals and co-development through information from the initial fund.

The fund mandates certain preferential exclusive rights including guarantee of status as a sole pharmaceutical partner participating in the Fund, preferential rights for co-investment, and guarantee of position in the Advisory Board.

The company hopes that these preferential rights will help it to acquire detailed information about portfolio companies and seek partners for its R&D activities in the early stage.

The fund will be advised by Thomas Weisel Partners.

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