"Summit Glycoresearch Corporation (President: Taizo Horimoto; hereinafter referred to as Summit Glycoresearch)," an affiliate of Sumitomo Corporation (President and CEO: Motoyuki Oka) specializing in strategic business in the field of biotechnology, has succeeded in efficient production of artificial lectins, a powerful tool for sugar chain analysis that attracts researchers' attention in the post-genome era, in collaboration with Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. (President & Representative Director: Naotake Okubo; hereinafter referred to as Sekisui Chemical). In the future, the two corporations will pursue the sophistication of the newly developed artificial lectin production technology so that large-scale stable production of artificial lectin can be assured. Summit Glycoresearch will further promote the researches that contribute to clinical applications of artificial lectin, such as development of artificial lectin-based diagnostic products and tissue-engineered medical products.

[Background]

Summit Glycoresearch, which obtained the basic patent for artificial lectins (Patent No. 3658394, "Lectins for Sugar Chain Analysis and Their Usages") in March 2005, utilized this technology and succeeded in developing lectins that differed from nativelectins in specificity and affinity. Development of these "artificial lectins" enabled the detection of sugar chains that could not be detected by using the previous methods. In this environment, Summit Glycoresearch makes efforts to contribute to healthcare by vigorously fostering the clinical application of artificial lectin-based sugar chain analysis technology.

Sekisui Chemical has been involved in protein production mediated by E. coli as a host by utilizing the function of peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase), a protein-converting enzyme derived from archebacterium. PPIase, which exists in many living organisms, is known as an enzyme that catalyzes the cis-trans isomerization of proline. Sekisui Chemical discovered that PPIase, especially one derived from archebacterium, had the function of folding into the correct conformation that allowed a protein to show its activity. This function was practically applied to the production of artificial lectins. Sekisui Chemical succeeded to find expression in soluble fractionin E. coli and confirmed that the amount of artificial lectin produced by using the new technique was 10 or more times that produced by using the conventional technique.

In the future, the two corporations will pursue the sophistication of the newly developed artificial lectin production technology so that stable production of artificial lectins on a large scale can be assured. Summit Glycoresearch will further promote researches that contribute to clinical applications for artificial lectins, such as development of artificial lectin-based diagnostic products and tissue-engineered medical products.

[History/future strategy]

Summit Glycoresearch, which was established by Sumitomo Corporation in January 2003, has pursued research in the sugar chain area in collaboration with the University of Tokyo. It has promoted academic-industrial research collaboration with University of Tokyo with appointing Prof. Tatsuro Irimura and Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto, the University of Tokyo, as directors. Summit Glycoresearch accepted investment from Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Katsuhiko Nishida; Headquarters: Naka-ku , Nagoya; hereinafter referred to as Medical & Biological Laboratories) in November 2003 and has been actively involved in research and development of next-generation pharmaceutical and diagnostic products, tissue-engineered medical products and research reagents.

Summit Glycoresearch has enhanced its business structure by acquisition of the basic patent (Patent No. 3658394, "Lectins for Sugar Chain Analysis and Their Usages") and the allocation of new third-party shares and has launched a full-scale research and development project with the expectation of commercializing its scientific achievements in sugar chain analysis, the leading-edge biotechnology research field. It promotes partnerships with the manufacturers of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products and IT companies to carry out joint projects in the fields of new drugs and diagnostic and tissue-engineered medical products. In this manner, Summit Glycoresearch steadily accelerates development of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products and commercialization of its achievements in the field of regenerative medicine.

[Profile of Summit Glycoresearch Corporation] *As of August 31, 2006
1. Foundation:	January 31, 2003
2. Headquarters:	1-8-12, Harumi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
3. Management personnel:
Taizo Horimoto President Tsutomu Kawaguchi Director Tatsuro Irimura Director (Professor and Head , Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Molecular Immunology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo) Kazuo Yamamoto Director (Professor, Department of Integrated Biosciences , Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo) Sukeaki Omura Director (Medical & Biological Laboratories) Co., Ltd. Director Sakae Kimura Director(Sumitomo Corporation, General Manager of Medical Science Department) Masahiro Sasaki Director (Summit Pharmaceuticals International Corporation, President and CEO)
4. Capital:	\327,290,000
5. Number of employees:	21
6. Business purpose:	Development and marketing of sugar chain biology-based pharmaceutical and diagnostic products

Since 2001, Sumitomo Corporation has promoted the joint research project with the University of Tokyo (Laboratory of Prof. Irimura) with the expectation of commercializing the achievements of the study titled "Sugar Chain Analysis by Artificial Lectin Library" that was conducted by Prof. Tatsuro Irimura, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Since 2002, Sumitomo Corporation has examined the possibility of commercializing the achievements of the study titled "Sugar Chain Design Technology using Cargo Receptor," conducted by Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Sumitomo Corporation considered these past results and established a bio-venture company on January 31, 2003, named Summit Glycoresearch Corporation, in order to further promote development of infrastructure technology and attempt to develop innovative pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and research reagents.

[Profile of Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.]
" Foundation:	1947
" Address of the headquarters:	2-4-4, Nishitenma, Kita-ku, Osaka
" Representative:	President & Representative Director, Naotake Okubo
" Capital:	\100,000,000,000
" Sales:	\885,000,000,000 (as of the end of March, 2006 on a consolidated basis)
" Number of employees:	17,966 (as of the end of March, 2006 on a consolidated basis)
" Description of business:	Construction, production and marketing of home units and synthetic resin products