Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Toshima-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Shigeru Uehara; "Taisho") announces that the Nanozora® 30 mg Autoinjector for S.C. Injection (generic name: ozoralizumab, (recombinant)), a TNFα inhibitor, has been included in the NHI drug price list from November 22, 2023 and is being launched today.

Nanozora® 30mg Autoinjector for S.C. Injection is a single-use autoinjector dosage form, prefilled with the same drug as the syringe dosage form Nanozora® 30mg Syringe for S.C. Injection, launched in December 2022. The drug employs a device that considers ease of use for patients with RA. Users can easily inject the drug simply by pressing the injector against the skin. The needle covering will be locked after injection to prevent needle piercing accidents.

Taisho aims to provide new treatment options for patients with RA, offering Nanozora® 30mg Syringes for S.C. Injection and Nanozora® 30mg Autoinjector for S.C. Injection.

About Nanozora®

Ozoralizumab, an active ingredient of Nanozora®, is an anti-TNFα NANOBODY® compound initially discovered by Ablynx [Ghent (Belgium)] (currently a Sanofi company). It has a molecular weight of approximately 25% of conventional IgG antibodies. Nanozora® binds to TNFα by its two subunits and potently neutralizes its activity. Nanozora® also has prolonged serum half-life by interacting with human serum albumin which is highly retained in blood, enabling patients to receive treatment once every 4 weeks. Due to these positive features, Nanozora® is expected to show potentially enhanced penetration to inflamed tissues and clinical efficacy even in the early stage of treatment.

* "Nanozora" is a registered trademark of Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

About NANOBODY® VHHs

NANOBODY® VHHs are molecules derived from a special type of antibody produced naturally by llamas and other camelid species. At nearly a tenth the size of conventional antibodies, NANOBODY® VHHs have the potential to reach disease targets in the human body that are inaccessible to conventional antibodies. The small, simple architecture allows the creation of "multivalent" NANOBODY® compounds that can act on multiple targets at the same time by linking the individual NANOBODY® VHHs together. NANOBODY® therapeutics offer the possibility to replace complex treatment regimens with single, multi-action medicines for a wide range of human diseases. Moreover, they can be generated rapidly for large-scale production.

 * "NANOBODY" is a registered trademark of Ablynx NV, an affiliate of Sanofi. Ablynx NV originally discovered and performed initial development of the NANOBODY® compound ozoralizumab.