JSR Corporation today announced the formation and establishment of its Life Sciences Division, JSR Life Sciences (JLS). The newly formed JLS has been established as a business unit for parent company, Tokyo-based JSR Corporation, a company with more than 50 years of success in material and polymer chemistries including marketing latex and magnetic beads to life sciences and diagnostic companies worldwide. Eric R. Johnson will lead the global operation for the Life Sciences business and assume responsibility of all operations as Senior Executive Officer of JSR Corporation and Head of the Life Sciences Division.  In that capacity he will lead JLS in integrating the global operations of the US, Europe, Asia and Japan.
“We know that we need to engage experts and markets outside of Japan and we see the US and Europe as key regions for the growth of our life sciences businesses,” said Mitsunobu Koshiba, President and Representative Director of JSR Corporation. “Assigning Johnson as the head of JLS is a strategic move that will facilitate our going beyond traditional markets to drive growth for JSR.”
The company is leveraging its material and polymer expertise to expand into the life sciences industry in the two major industry categories of bioprocessing and diagnostic and research products.
In bioprocessing, JLS focuses on large-scale purification and chromatography products including the recent launch of Amsphere™ A3, a protein A chromatography resin for downstream processing. In 2015, JSR expanded its capabilities through the acquisition of a majority stake in contract development and manufacturing organization, KBI Biopharma, Inc.
In diagnostics and research products, JLS has established a liquid biopsies business that recently launched ExoCap™ Kit for the isolation and purification of exosomes from plasma or serum.  The company will also continue to expand its market presence as a provider of magnetic and latex beads, biopolymers, surface chemistry and microfluidics into the life sciences and diagnostics markets. JLS’ growth in the diagnostics and research products business is further strengthened by the recent majority share acquisition of Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd. by parent company JSR Corporation.
“We are taking a very forward-looking approach to our life sciences business while building from our core competencies,” said Johnson. “Quality is fundamental to JSR and we plan to differentiate on our robust quality systems, while also leveraging our materials expertise, our disciplined approach to manufacturing and our focus on strong customer relationships. We expect to develop strong partnerships with customers and companies with complementary expertise.”