Mitsui : Joint press conference on the IP utilization business held by Hiroshima University and UHA Mikakuto Co.

Mitsui & Co. is evaluating and analyzing intellectual property (IP) owned by companies and universities, and driving projects which aim to monetize them through suitable business models. Mitsui's first IP project was conducted alongside Hiroshima University and its venture company, Campus Medico, to utilize the IP of L8020(*), a lactic-acid bacterium discovered by Professor Hiroki Nikawa of Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences.

This has led to a tablet using L8020 being sold across Japan by UHA Mikakuto Co., Ltd., which was announced at a joint press conference held at Hiroshima University's Tokyo Office by Hiroshima University, UHA Mikakuto Co., and Mitsui & Co., on June 1, 2017.

At the press conference, Professor Nikawa presented the results of studies on L8020 lactic-acid bacterium carried out to date, and Mitsui Regional Business Promotion Division General Manager Takuji Fukaya explained future sales strategies and Mitsui's IP business activities in general.

* L8020 lactic-acid bacterium is a lactobacillus classified as lactobacillus rhamnosus. It has been independently proven in healthy subjects with no history of oral cavities to show antibacterial effects against candida fungus, periodontal disease bacteria, and bacteria that causes tooth decay.