Diagnostics and drug-discovery startup AOI Biosciences announced on 14 September that it had completed an equity funding round. A secondary transaction was also carried out, bringing the combined total to about ¥500m ($3m).
Founded in 2019 under the name Revorf, the company changed to its current name in January 2025. It is headquartered in Ibaraki, Osaka prefecture.
Quantum-mechanical models put to work in drug discovery
Recurrent pregnancy loss is the term for the condition of someone who has experienced two or more miscarriages or stillbirths. Most early-pregnancy miscarriages are caused by chromosomal abnormalities that arise by chance at fertilisation, and in around 65% of recurrent pregnancy loss cases no cause or risk factor can be identified. Other risk factors can be picked up by testing: thyroid dysfunction accounts for around 9.5% of cases and antiphospholipid antibody positivity for around 8.7%.
The β2GPI neoself antibody is one of the test items associated with antiphospholipid antibodies, and testing for its presence is offered by AOI Biosciences. The test is already available at more than 300 medical institutions in Japan, mainly fertility clinics, and is offered in parts of Asia as well.
AOI Biosciences says that people who tested positive in the β2GPI neoself antibody test and went on to receive appropriate treatment saw a 31% increase in their pregnancy success rate and a 37.2% increase in their live-birth rate.
In drug discovery, meanwhile, the company uses “SQBM+”, software developed by Toshiba. It uses mathematical models derived from quantum mechanics to find approximate solutions on classical computers to the same class of problems that quantum computers tackle. Beyond drug discovery, envisaged applications include navigation that lets people and mobility services move optimally and efficiently around smart cities, as well as uses in finance.
AOI Biosciences is using SQBM+ to pursue allosteric drug discovery, a method of creating drugs with new effects by acting on a site away from the part of a protein known as the active site. Where outside the active site to aim is calculated by SQBM+.
Funds to go towards the global rollout of the β2GPI neoself antibody test and towards drug discovery
Nine venture-capital firms and financial-sector corporate venture-capital arms took part in September’s round.
The funds will be used as follows.
- Further acceleration of domestic adoption of the β2GPI neoself antibody test and of its global rollout, starting with Asia
- Expansion of new neoself antibody tests and of drug-discovery research targeting a range of autoimmune diseases
- Further R&D investment in allosteric drug-discovery technology using quantum-related technologies
AOI Biosciences’ president, Shinichi Sueta, commented: “‘We aim for a world where people’s ordinary good health is not put at risk.’ We run our business with that conviction at heart. From the development of novel diagnostics and drug discovery for autoimmune diseases, built around our neoself antibody testing business, to drug-discovery support using advanced data-analysis technology and our healthcare business, we will go on creating businesses that contribute to society, and we will keep growing.”
