TKG Therapeutics Places 2nd at the DEEPTECH CATAPULT, ICC SUMMIT KYOTO 2026
- Makoto Yamamoto
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
On September 2, 2026, our CEO Makoto Yamamoto presented at the DEEPTECH CATAPULT, a pitch competition held as part of the Industry Co-Creation (ICC) Summit KYOTO 2026 in Kyoto, Japan, and placed 2nd.
The DEEPTECH CATAPULT gives companies building new industries on frontier technology seven minutes to present. Seven companies took the stage, and the rankings were decided by a vote of 35 judges. TKG Therapeutics received 27 points, placing 2nd.
The presentation covered why we are building this drug — to give patients who have exhausted standard therapy one more option — and how our nucleic acid medicine works. Triggered by miR-21, a microRNA highly expressed in many cancers, two hairpin-shaped nucleic acids assemble themselves into an aggregate inside cancer cells and nowhere else. That aggregate delivers both a distinctive innate immune response and a direct antitumor effect. Because healthy cells never trigger the reaction, the drug strikes cancer selectively. We shared this mechanism along with the results we have confirmed across multiple cancer types.
That afternoon, Yamamoto served as moderator of the DEEPTECH Focus Session, a companion program to the catapult, where he led a discussion with pharmaceutical companies, investors, and founders from other deep tech fields on what it takes to carry university research through to real-world use.
The presentation is available on the ICC official live-stream archive, and the Hero Interview recorded immediately after the session has also been published.
▶ Presentation (ICC Official YouTube)
▶ Hero Interview
▶ ICC Official Results (Japanese)
We are grateful for the connections made at ICC, and we will put them to work accelerating our development.
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