AbbVie Japan Announces Winners of the Innovation Award
- jlatour34
- Oct 1
- 4 min read
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2025
AbbVie Japan Announces Winners of the Innovation Award
Jointly organized with BioLabs, the Innovation Award is designed to support promising Japanese biotechnology companies and academic institutions
Out of 26 applicants, Neko Pharma Co., Ltd. has been selected as the winner, awarded with the Golden Ticket and a prize of 10 million yen.
A special award, the 'AbbVie Special Mentoring Program,' has been newly established and presented to Jiksak Bioengineering Inc.
Through promotion of open innovation, AbbVie contributes to strengthening Japan’s drug discovery ecosystem in alignment with government policy
AbbVie GK (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Tiago Campos Rodrigues) today announced the winners of the AbbVie Japan Innovation Award, which is co-hosted with BioLabs, a mission-driven US-based company that provides a comprehensive innovation support platform anchored by a global network of premier coworking laboratory facilities for biotechnology startups.
Applications were invited from biotech startups and academic institutions that are actively developing innovative biotechnologies in AbbVie's priority therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, obesity, and aesthetics. Out of 26 applicants, the following winners were chosen through application review and pitch session:
Winners
Neko Pharma Co., Ltd.
Volcano-origin thermostable protein scaffold platform which can be used for various applications
This startup possesses a highly thermostable protein scaffold platform derived from bacteria inhabiting volcanic environments. Despite having a molecular weight that is significantly smaller than conventional antibody therapeutics, the company has built a library (a pool of drug candidate sequences) featuring sequence diversity comparable to that of antibodies. This technology holds promise for a wide range of future applications.
Neko Pharma Co., Ltd. has been awarded the Golden Ticket and a cash prize of 10 million yen as the recipient of the AbbVie Japan Innovation Award. The Golden Ticket includes the following benefits:
One year of complimentary use of the state-of-the-art BioLabs facility in ShinKiba, Japan, scheduled to launch in 2026
Access to essential research equipment, services, entrepreneurship programs, and a researcher community within the facility
Mentoring support from AbbVie’s in-house experts in R&D and business
Jiksak Bioengineering Inc.
Novel brain shuttle technology which can bypass BBB to deliver payload from PNS to CNS
In the development of therapeutics for neuroscience, efficient drug delivery to the brain remains a significant challenge. While many companies are focused on technologies that enhance the passage of drugs through the blood-brain barrier, this startup has pioneered an innovative approach that bypasses the blood-brain barrier altogether. By enabling drug delivery from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system, this new technology holds substantial promise. Such an advance is expected to create strong synergies with the development of novel treatments in the field of neuroscience.
Jiksak Bioengineering Inc. has been awarded the special prize, the 'AbbVie Special Mentoring Program,' and will be provided with the opportunity to receive mentoring support from AbbVie experts.
"We are delighted to recognize two startups whose advanced scientific technologies are closely aligned with AbbVie’s strategy.” said Tiago Campos Rodrigues, general manager of AbbVie Japan. “We hope that these awards will help foster groundbreaking innovation in Japan and reinforce the Japanese government’s ongoing work to fortify the drug discovery ecosystem. At AbbVie, we remain dedicated to advancing standards of care and amplifying impact on the lives of patients, while supporting the continued growth of innovation in our community."
“We are thrilled by the strong response to the AbbVie Japan Innovation Award and the quality of the applications received. BioLabs and AbbVie have worked together for many years across multiple geographies, and we are especially excited to extend this collaboration to Japan. We look forward to welcoming the winner into the BioLabs community and to continuing our partnership with AbbVie as we build a vibrant global life science ecosystem together.” said Johannes Fruehauf, Founder and CEO of BioLabs.
About the AbbVie Japan Innovation Award:
This award, jointly organized by AbbVie and BioLabs, consists of two prizes: 'Golden Ticket' and a cash prize of 10 million yen. These may be awarded either separately to 2 different recipients, or together to a single recipient.
Additionally, a new prize, the 'AbbVie Special Mentoring Program,' was also established during the review process.
[Application Period] June 17 to August 31, 2025
[Review Period] September 1 to September 19, 2025
A judge panel comprising of experts from AbbVie Ventures, Search & Evaluation, and Discovery Research conducted the following review process to select the award winners
Application screening
Presentations by four finalist organizations
About BioLabs
A mission-driven innovation support platform anchored by a global network of coworking laboratory facilities, BioLabs offers beautifully designed coworking environments that pair fully equipped and supported lab, office, and event spaces with relevant programming and unparalleled access to capital and industry partners. These fertile, supportive environments allow young companies to shift their focus from startup operations to experimentation and innovation so they can reach their scientific potential quickly and achieve business success. Companies can start with a single lab bench and scale up as they grow. The expanding BioLabs network currently operates labs in the US: California; Connecticut; Massachusetts; New Jersey; North Carolina; New York; Pennsylvania; Texas; Vermont; France, Germany, and now in Japan. To find a BioLabs location near you and to connect to the BioLabs network today, follow BioLabs on Linkedin and on www.biolabs.io
About AbbVie
AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
In Japan, we are mainly engaged in the development and provision of products in the areas of Immunology, Virology, Neuroscience, Oncology and Eye Care, as well as Medical Aesthetics under Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie Japan, please visit us at www.abbvie.co.jp. We also post information on Facebook and YouTube.
AbbVie Japan Contact information: Public Affairs 03-4577-1112
BioLabs Contact information: Business Development Department BioLabsBD@biolabs.io
