Solute Carrier (Solute Carrier; SLC) transporters are the largest group of membrane transport proteins in humans that transport a variety of solutes through biological membranes, and more than 400 species have been reported so far.

Although it has been proposed as a therapeutic target in a wide range of disease areas, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, metabolic diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases, SLCs are still unexplored territory, with less than 5% of the target genes for drugs approved by the U.S. FDA. Therefore, SLC transporters are attracting attention as a promising drug discovery target with the potential for significant development in the future.

Our founder, Hitoshi Endo (currently Professor Emeritus at Kyorin University), discovered and patented 12 new transporters as a leading expert in transporter research.
We are focusing on L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LATl), one of the SLC transporters discovered by our founder, and are developing LATl inhibitors that inhibit its activity.