For Immediate Release

Company name: DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED
Representative: Takashi Shoda, President and Representative Director
(Code no.: 4568, First Section, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya Stock Exchanges)
Please address inquiries to Toshiaki Sai, General Manager,
Corporate Communications Department
Telephone: +81-3-6225-1126
http://www.daiichisankyo.com/

Daiichi Sankyo Enters Alliance with The Kitasato Institute

Tokyo, December 25, 2008 - Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited has announced that it has signed a master agreement for an alliance with The Kitasato Institute (Chairman: Tadayoshi Shiba) for research, development, manufacturing and marketing of human vaccines for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Japan.

Daiichi Sankyo showed interest in The Kitasato Institute and its next generation recombinant vaccine technology that uses the internationally-respected AIK-C strain measles vaccine as a vector. The Institute also has an R&D platform for vaccines for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. In April 2007, it established the Kitasato University Research Organization for Infection Control Sciences, a university-wide organization within The Institute, for everything from basic research of infectious disease control to drug and vaccine development. The Organization operates as a center for commercialization of the results of the Institute's research.

Daiichi Sankyo and The Kitasato Institute's Research Organization for Infection Control Sciences will discover and develop vaccine seeds together and proactively obtain licenses and technologies from third parties to respond to unmet medical needs of the market by providing highly safe and effective vaccines.



About The Kitasato Institute
In 2008, The Kitasato Institute commenced operations as an integration of the Kitasato Institute, an incorporated association, and Kitasato University.
Since its establishment, The Kitasato Institute has followed Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato's founding concept and operating philosophy, namely that the "results of research should be returned to people and society without delay and that they be used for improving human lives." In particular, the institute fulfills a social mission by contributing to the eradication of infectious diseases and to the spread of public health.
At present it operates seven graduate schools, seven schools, four affiliated research institutes and four hospitals. It has been lauded for being a particularly unique university specializing in life sciences. Furthermore, in addition to establishing two vocational schools, the university is Japan's only academic organization to possess facilities for vaccine production, through its Research Center for Biologicals.