FIMECS, Inc.

Happy New Year to all. I am honored to assume the position of President & CEO of RaQualia Pharma, Inc. as of January 1, 2025. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your continued support of our group's business activities. 2024 was a challenging year marked by natural disasters, including the earthquake in Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, and significant geopolitical shifts that also impacted our business environment. Despite these challenges, we achieved an important milestone with the acquisition of FIMECS, Inc. This acquisition has strengthened our business foundation and created new growth opportunities. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who have supported us. As for the business results of the fiscal year ending December 2024, our royalty income from marketed products continued to grow steadily, and we had projected record-high consolidated net sales of 3,135 million yen. However, due to delays in the conclusion of new agreements accompanied by upfront payments, we fell short of our initial plan and were forced to revise our full-year earnings forecast downward for the second consecutive year. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to our shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders. Based on our experiences in the previous two fiscal years, we will be fully committed to driving growth and profitability under our new management team. In 2025, we will focus on three key initiatives: Strengthening our drug discovery value chain: We will expand our investment in new drug modalities, including targeted protein degraders, with a primary focus on the neurological and oncology disease areas. Expanding and optimizing our pipeline: We will devote all our efforts to creating new development candidates. We will ensure that clinical development is carried out with secured funding and partnerships, and we will strive for appropriate management of project costs. Enhancing our business performance: We will adopt a hybrid business model combining pipeline-based and platform-based approaches to generate revenue from the research stage and further stabilize our revenue base. Our mission is to "we brighten people's lives through the power of innovation," and our vision is "becoming the world's leading innovators who deliver advanced medicines to patients with intractable diseases." Having personally experienced a rare disease, I am deeply committed to delivering new drugs to patients as quickly as possible. With our values of "Patient First," "Trust," "Exploration," and "Challenge," we are passionate about bringing new drugs to patients suffering from intractable diseases. We will put patients first, be a trusted partner, advance in science, and continuously enjoy the challenges of achieving our innovative goals. We are committed to being a company that meets the expectations of our shareholders, investors, and our patients and contributes to society. We appreciate your continued support. I hope this new year brings happiness and prosperity to all. Sincerely, President and CEO Masaki Sudo Cookie Policy We use cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. Please confirm that you agree to our use of cookies by clicking Yes. If you continue to browse this website even without agreeing to our use of cookies, we consider that you have consented to our use of cookies. Privacy Policy © RaQualia Pharma Inc. All rights reserved.

Kanagawa and Nagoya, Japan, February 14, 2024 – FIMECS, Inc. (“FIMECS”), a private biotechnology company creating a new class of drugs based on targeted protein degradation, and RaQualia Pharma, Inc. (“RaQualia Pharma”), a research and development-based biotechnology company listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange (security code: 4579), today announced that FIMECS and FIMECS’ shareholders accepted the proposal of acquisition by RaQualia Pharma, and that RaQualia Pharma, FIMECS and FIMECS’ shareholders have executed Stock Purchase Agreement (“SPA”). As a result of the acquisition, FIMECS will become a wholly owned consolidated subsidiary of RaQualia Pharma. Under the term of SPA, FIMECS’ shareholders will receive a 4.5B JPY upfront payment, in addition to earnout payments based on the predetermined rate of annual FIMECS’ sales in each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028. “We are pleased that our RaPPIDS^TM platform has been highly praised. We expect that the strong synergies from joining the RaQualia Pharma group will enable us to dramatically accelerate our drug discovery.” said Yusuke Tominari, Ph.D., Co-Founder, CEO of FIMECS. “We really appreciate our shareholders for their strong and continuous support. We will continue to drive our drug discovery both internal and collaborative research to address a wide range of drug targets and unmet medical needs, then provide life-saving drugs for patients and their families around the world.” “We are very pleased to be collaborating with RaQualia Pharma to increase the value of our platform and pipelines by leveraging both expertise. Together with RaQualia Pharma’s existing strengths, we will be able to unlock undruggable targets and generate innovative degrader compounds for the benefit of patients and their families.” said Kanae Gamo, Ph.D., Co-Founder, CSO of FIMECS. “We are thrilled to announce that we have entered into SPA with FIMECS, a leading platformer for targeted proteolysis-inducing drugs. The acquisition of private biotechnology companies by listed biotechnology companies is a long-awaited event in the Japanese biotech ecosystem, and we are honored to have the opportunity to serve as a role model. This acquisition will allow us to leverage a new modality that has the potential to create breakthrough therapeutics to meet unmet medical needs. FIMECS is an outstanding biotech that has built a strong network with leading companies worldwide and has a proven track record of contracts in this area. By respecting each other’s strengths, we will deliver new medications for patients and their families suffering from diseases with limited treatment options. And we will realize our mission: “We brighten people’s lives through the power of innovation” ” said Hirobumi Takeuchi, President and CEO of RaQualia Pharma. The acquisition is expected to close on March 26, 2024, subject to the completion of all necessary procedures.

Astellas Pharma is far from alone in viewing cancer as a major growth area, but the Japanese drugmaker has specifically identified a type of therapy called targeted protein degradation as one of the key areas for increasing revenue. It just struck its second deal in the past two months to help it execute on that strategy and perhaps stand apart from others pursuing the same type of drugs. Under a partnership announced Tuesday, Astellas will work with PeptiDream to discover new protein degraders using the technology of that company. Specific targets were not disclosed, but they will be selected by Astellas. The deal also grants Tokyo-based Astellas the option to select up to three additional targets for inclusion in the collaboration. Astellas will pay PeptiDream 3 billion yen (about $21 million) up front. PeptiDream, based in Kawasaki, Japan, is eligible to receive up to 20.6 billion yen (about $145.8 million) in milestone payments for each target. Targeted protein degradation leverages a cell’s built-in system of disposing of old or damaged proteins as a way to get rid of cancer-causing proteins. Those proteins are directed to this system with a small molecule that recruits a molecular tag that marks a protein for disposal. Targeted protein degradation is a hot field. Kymera Therapeutics and Arvinas are among the biotech companies developing small molecules for targeted protein degradation, both of them in partnership with large pharmaceutical companies. PeptiDream’s peptide discovery platform technology identifies macrocyclic peptide candidates. Macrocyclic peptides are larger than small molecules, giving them some features that are characteristic of large molecules. But unlike large molecules, macrocyclic peptides can be made into an oral drug. Also important, it’s hoped that macrocyclic peptides can address targets that are tough to hit with small molecules. “Targeted Protein Degradation is one of the Primary Focuses of Astellas,” Chief Strategy Officer Adam Pearson said in a prepared statement. “We hope this collaboration will bring synergies between the two companies’ cutting-edge research and will ultimately lead to the expansion of Astellas’ portfolio and development of new therapeutics for patients with significant unmet medical needs.” Astellas is not abandoning the use of small molecules for targeted protein degradation. Last month, Astellas began a collaboration that will use Cullgen’s technology, which finds ways to target proteins thought to be undruggable. The San Diego-based company received $35 million up front. Astellas could pay Cullgen another $85 million if it licenses the lead program from the collaboration. Cullgen could receive up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments, plus royalties from sales of a commercialized product. The Cullgen deal followed a 2022 alliance with Fimecs focused on discovering small molecule protein degraders against multiple unnamed targets. Financial terms were not disclosed. Astellas has reached Phase 1 testing with ASP3082, an internally developed drug candidate designed to degrade a cancer target called KRAS G12D. Mutated versions of this protein are found in pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer among other cancer types. Astellas’s top-selling product is the cancer drug Xtandi, which is facing patent expirations. In 2021, the company outlined a strategic plan for growing the pipeline and revenue over the next five years. Executives said this strategy will focus R&D on five main areas: genetic regulation, immuno-oncology, blindness and regeneration, mitochondria, and targeted protein degradation. Astellas bolstered the vision part of its corporate strategy in May, announcing the $1.3 billion acquisition of Iveric Bio, whose lead program is a potential treatment for geographic atrophy. An FDA decision for that drug is expected in August.