February 24, 2003

Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd.

Takeda Discovered a Novel Mechanism of Insulin Secretion
through a Fatty Acid Receptor GPR40

OSAKA, JAPAN, February 24, 2003 --- Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd. ("Takeda") announced a discovery of a novel insulin secretion mechanism through free fatty acids, that promote insulin secretion by activating a receptor GPR40.

First Takeda confirmed that fatty acids act on GPR40 as ligands and GPR40 is abundantly expressed in pancreatic ƒÀ cells. Thereafter functional analyses revealed that fatty acids activate GPR40 and promote glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from ƒÀ cells.

GPR40 was discovered as an orphan (without identified ligands) receptor in 1997, and last year it was found to express in the pancreas, having fatty acids as ligand. Takeda is the first body to have clarified the function of GPR40 as is mentioned above.

With these findings, new chemical entities that have specific action on GPR40 are expected to lead to the development of anti-diabetic drugs with novel mechanism of action, through controlling serum insulin level.

Takeda's Discovery Research Laboratories I, Pharmaceutical Research Division has dedicated to research for orphan receptors, and identified the seven novel peptides ligands; prolactin-releasing peptide, apelin, galanin-like peptide, RF amide-related peptides, metastin, neuropeptide W and neuropeptide B. Also, it has identified receptors for already known bioactive peptides and low molecule substances such as melanin-concentrating hormone, urotensin II, neuromedin U, endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor and bile acids.

Takeda is a research-based global company with its main focus on pharmaceuticals. As the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan and one of the industry's leaders worldwide, Takeda is committed to strive toward better health for individuals and progress in medicine by developing superior pharmaceutical products.

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* The full report is available at advance online publication of "Nature" starting today; www.nature.com (Digital object identifier: 10.1038/nature01478)

For further inquiries, please contact:
Corporate Communications Dept., Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd.
TEL: +81-6-6204-2038 (Osaka), +81-3-3278-2039 (Tokyo)