TOKYO, December 9th 2016 – Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (“Ajinomoto Co.”) and its consolidated subsidiary S.A. Ajinomoto OmniChem N.V. (“OmniChem”) agreed to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of GeneDesign, Inc., a major Japanese contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO1) for nucleic acid drugs, and signed a share purchase and sale agreement today. With this acquisition, Ajinomoto Co. will generate synergies between the oligonucleotide manufacturing technologies and pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities and know-how of the Ajinomoto Group and the management resources of GeneDesign, Inc. to accelerate business expansion in the field of CDMOs for nucleic acid drugs,2 which is growing significantly.

Because development of nucleic acid drugs is progressing with applications for illnesses that have been difficult to treat, significant market growth is expected in Japan and overseas. To meet the needs of this market, Ajinomoto Co. applied the synthesis technologies it has cultivated to develop a manufacturing method for oligonucleotides based on liquid-phase synthesis – which is more suitable for mass production than solid-phase synthesis, the conventional method for synthesizing oligonucleotides – and has been conducting a CDMO business (AJIPHASE3).