Poop-Based Drug Development [1]Poop as medicine. The future of health begins with "Gut Microbiome Donation."
中原 拓
メタジェンセラピューティクス株式会社
Ryo Sasaki
Dentsu Inc.
Have you heard of the new business called "poop-based drug development"?
"Poop-based drug development" refers to a business that involves obtaining stool donations from "gut bacteria donors" with excellent gut environments, extracting gut bacteria, and transplanting them into patients' intestines through procedures like "gut microbiota transplantation," as well as pursuing drug development. Driving this initiative is Japan-based medical and drug development startup "Metagen Therapeutics."
In this series, we interviewed Mr. Taku Nakahara, President and CEO of Metagen Therapeutics, and Mr. Ryo Sasaki, Creative Director at Dentsu Inc., who is supporting this venture. We discussed the vision for society being built through "poop donation" and how Dentsu Inc.'s communication expertise can contribute to the growth of this business.
▼Why We Launched the "Poop × Drug Discovery & Healthcare" Business ──First, could you tell us what prompted you to launch this business? Nakahara: I originally worked as a bioinformatics researcher, using information science to analyze genomes, DNA, and similar data. I then shifted toward a more business-oriented career path. During this transition, around 2018, I witnessed the rapid rise of the gut microbiome business firsthand. In drug discovery, efforts to leverage gut microbiome research for treating intractable diseases were accelerating. In the US, ventures aiming to develop drugs using gut microbiomes were launching one after another. Actually, research into gut bacteria—essentially poop—began advancing around the early 2000s. Back then, poop was just seen as waste with no value. But analysis using next-generation sequencing (NGS) (※1) revealed that the bacteria in poop actually contribute to human health.As a researcher myself, I found the field of gut bacteria fascinating—still new and ripe for exploration. This led me to consider whether business could help drive research forward. ※1 = Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) ──How are you connecting gut bacteria donation to medicine and drug discovery? Nakahara: Our focus is on the social implementation of a new treatment: transplanting gut bacteria extracted from healthy stool into the intestines of patients with severely impaired gut environments via endoscopy. By using antibiotics to reset all gut bacteria and replace them with healthy gut bacteria, we guide the imbalanced gut environment back to a normal state. While Japan currently has no medicines made from stool, gut microbiota transplantation is gaining attention as a promising new treatment for designated intractable diseases like ulcerative colitis, as well as immune-related conditions such as allergies, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. To produce raw materials for medicines using gut bacteria, we need healthy people to donate their stool. That's why, together with Dentsu Inc., we've started an initiative called "Gut Bacteria Donation," encouraging people to donate their stool, much like donating blood. ──What prompted you to start this project with Dentsu Inc.? Nakahara: Are you familiar with the so-called "100-yen problem for biotech startups"? In Japan, biotech companies with complex technologies or products often face a problem where, regardless of their actual value, their market capitalization is uniformly set at around 10 billion yen when they go public. Even if they are tackling uniquely innovative businesses with significant social impact, they are "priced" at around 10 billion yen due to precedent-based "follow-the-leader" practices.Ideally, a company's value should be assessed based on its scientific potential and clinical progress. However, the reality is that there are still few investors in Japan capable of evaluating this properly. That's why I consulted a creative director acquaintance, who introduced me to Mr. Sasaki. Nakahara: Initially, we continued brainstorming sessions for the mid-term management plan while maintaining a consultative approach. However, as discussions progressed, the challenges leading up to the IPO became increasingly clear.To perform fecal microbiota transplantation, we need healthy stool samples. However, donors who qualify as "elite poop" – meaning they pass strict checks to ensure their stool is suitable for treatment – are extremely rare. Therefore, we need as many people as possible to cooperate. Yet, the very existence of organizations collecting stool was still largely unknown to the public. Amidst this, another challenge was figuring out how to gather people willing to cooperate as donors. To address this, we recognized the importance of properly building our brand and increasing awareness among a broader audience. Consequently, we redefined our relationship with Dentsu Inc. as our branding partner, evolving into the current partnership. Indeed, companies tackling such deep issues inevitably face challenges in valuation compared to those with tangible products, services, or technologies, as their impact is harder to quantify in short-term metrics. Yet, by clearly visualizing the contours of their envisioned future, we can overcome the challenge of evaluating the future value of the business. ──What kind of output emerged from the problem awareness of "communicating differences"? Nakahara: Initially, we started with the question of "how to express the overall business scheme."Our business model consists of three pillars built upon a foundational biobank that collects stool samples from donors: drug discovery utilizing gut bacteria, medical services performing gut microbiota transplants, and business development support in collaboration with research institutions and general companies. We hypothesized that to accurately and effectively communicate our value and initiatives, beyond simply explaining this structure, it would be effective to express the worldview of the entire business itself. From this, a vision emerged: creating a world where not just pharmaceutical and medical professionals, but everyone, becomes interconnected through daily life to treat intractable diseases. The idea was born to visualize this aspiration in a single image, leading to the creation of the vision map. Sasaki: While advanced medicine might generally be perceived as confined within limited specialized fields, the gut microbiome-based medical practice MetaGen Therapeutics is realizing is built upon open relationships with diverse people. We felt this fact itself is incredibly important. We concluded we needed to clearly communicate this to society, investors, and future partner companies. We created the vision map to function like the seal of authority in the TV drama "Mito Kōmon" – something that instantly conveys what this business does, its value, and its potential. How effective has this "seal" been in practice? Sasaki: Through creating this vision map, we arrived at a new term for our approach to health: the concept of "Health Share." The ultimate waste product we produce daily—poop—has the potential to save someone. Donating poop is an act of sharing your health, like passing on a gift. It's a completely new form of donation that involves absolutely no self-sacrifice. And I believe this idea will fundamentally change the very concept of health itself. Until now, health was, of course, something we maintained for ourselves. The idea that it could become something shareable with others represents a massive shift in values. I thought the word that best encapsulates this future—where health transforms from a "selfish" to an "altruistic" endeavor—is not "healthcare," but "healthshare." ──Alongside creating the vision map, I understand you undertook corporate rebranding. What was the purpose behind this? Sasaki: Originally, we used the same logo as our parent company, Metagen. However, we felt Metagen Therapeutics needed its own brand symbol to establish a distinct corporate identity. We believed that if we could embody the uniqueness of our approach—scientifically examining something seemingly impure and unnecessary like feces from a completely new angle and transforming it into new value—it would become a powerful tool to express what sets this company apart. We discussed with Mr. Nakahara how important the rebranding effort, including the design, was to make the act of "providing your own poop to someone" perceived as something meaningful and cool. We explored the direction together. Nakahara: At the core of this brand symbol are two elements: the "Torch" representing "passing health from person to person," and the "New Perspective" embodying the idea of "changing how we view poop." By altering the angle of the poop icon and using its top-down shape as a motif, then overlaying the "Torch" image, we created a visual that conveys passion and the energy of life. We usually flush stool down the toilet as mere waste without a second thought. Yet, simply shifting our perspective can reveal entirely new value. That profound significance is precisely what we have imbued into this corporate identity. *Continued in Part 2 The information published at this time is as follows. Was this article helpful? Share this article Newsletter registration is here We select and publish important news every day For inquiries about this article メタジェンセラピューティクス株式会社 バイオインフォマティクス研究者としてキャリアを始め、のちに自身が関わった研究で2008年に北海道大学発ベンチャー を製薬企業とともに創業、約６年間ニュージャージー州でバイオインフォマティクス責任者を務める。その後、日系大手消費財企業、米系ベンチャーキャピタル、日系ベンチャーキャピタルで新規事業・スタートアップ投資を行う。2020年にメタジェンセラピューティクス（MGTx） を創業しCEOとして日本のアカデミア・企業発のマイクロバイオーム医療・創薬シーズの事業化を目指して奮闘中。北海道上川郡東川町在住。札幌市バイオビジネスアドバイザーとして地元のバイオイノベーションエコシステム構築活動も行う。 Dentsu Inc. Joined Dentsu Inc. as a new graduate. At the cross-functional creative organization Future Creative Center, provided creative support—centered on copywriting—addressing not only advertising but also business and management challenges. In 2022, joined Startup Growth Partners, the company's startup-focused support organization, from its inception, delivering hands-on creative support to startup executives.
▼ What's Needed to Overcome the "100-Yen Store Problem"forBiotech Startups
▼A Vision Map Visualizing "A Space Where Society as a Whole Engages in Treating Intractable Diseases"
▼Health is something to be shared and distributed. The Concept of "Health Share"Why I Launched the "Poop × Drug Discovery & Healthcare" Business
Technology for rapidly and massively decoding DNA base sequences
Around the same time, friends active at the forefront of Japan's gut microbiome research gathered and founded "Metagen" in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Together with these friends, I wanted to launch a drug discovery business using poop. In 2020, we established Metagen Therapeutics as a subsidiary of Metagen and started the business. Later, we separated the management, and it now operates independently as a sister company.
What's Needed to Overcome the "100-Yen Store Problem" for Biotech Startups
A Vision Map Visualizing "A Space Where Society as a Whole Engages in Treating Intractable Diseases"
Health is something to be shared and distributed. The concept of "Health Share"
Author
中原 拓
Ryo Sasaki
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