Tokyo, Japan, October 17, 2011 -- Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai") announced today that it has entered into a neurological drug discovery research collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), which established the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute (JHBSi). By combining JHBSi's strengths in translational research with Eisai's drug discovery expertise in the area of neurology, the company aims to expand its chances of being able to offer patients innovative drug treatments that result from open innovation.

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, JHBSi will provide Eisai with novel neurological drug discovery targets discovered by the university's network of scientists. In return, Eisai will provide JHBSi with access to its proprietary library of chemical compounds for the purpose of conducting discovery research as both parties seek to create clinically viable compounds. The collaboration will be carried out in accordance with Eisai's "Open Innovation Model" under which JHBSi will assume a leading role in conducting research to discover new compounds. Eisai will have the option to enter into an agreement to develop and commercialize any resulting compounds that meet certain criteria in terms of research and development milestones. Should Eisai choose to exercise this option, Eisai will provide JHU upfront and milestone payments as well as royalties on future sales for each licensed compound.

JHBSi was created to fuel novel, collaborative research among Johns Hopkins' more than 500 basic and clinical neuroscientists. The collaboration will operates as parts of the JHBSi's Neuro Translational Program, launched in 2009, whose mission is to explore innovative ways to accelerate promising drug discovery and translation by leveraging the basic research and clinical expertise of the Johns Hopkins University neuroscience community.

Eisai defines neurology as a therapeutic area of focus and has entered into this partnership with JHU as part of its commitment to uncovering the causes of disease and discovering therapies that target these causes as it seeks to make further contributions to address the diversified needs of patients and their families and increase benefits provided to them.