Primary Focuses

Addressing unmet patient need through our innovative pipeline

A purple DNA model, illustrating Astellas’ Focus Area Approach.

Our Focus Area Approach

Astellas has established a Focus Area Approach for our research and development (R&D) strategy. This strategy helps us to build a sustainable, expandable drug discovery approach to develop new platforms, leverage expertise and create innovative therapies.

Our approach combines three core components:

We harness an in-depth understanding of disease biology – how diseases originate, develop and thrive in the body. This enables us to identify the most promising mechanisms of action for treatment.
We use versatile technologies and modalities, innovative therapeutic molecules and delivery methods with unique applications that allow us to physically reach and interrupt those biological mechanisms efficiently, effectively and safely.
We select diseases with high unmet needs – those which have few or no current treatments and a significant impact on quality or length of life – that will respond positively to the biology/modality combination. This ensures our efforts deliver meaningful VALUE for the patients that need our help the most.

Four Primary Focuses

Blindness and Regeneration: Helping free patients from the fear of vision loss and offer the hope of preserving or improving sight.
Genetic Regulation: Developing genetic medicines with the potential to deliver transformative VALUE for patients.
Immuno-Oncology: Harnessing the immune system to deliver the oncology medicines of tomorrow.
Induced Proximity: Expanding what medicine can do to redefine what is considered ‘druggable’, with the aim of unlocking profound, sustained therapeutic impact in cancer and beyond.