Hodogaya Chemical forms NuChord to enter nucleic acid CDMO business

Hodogaya Chemical (TSE Prime: 4112), a maker of OLED materials, is entering contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) for nucleic acid drugs. It set up a wholly owned subsidiary, NuChord Co., Ltd., on September 1, 2026, and disclosed it on September 2. NuChord has capital of ¥200 million.

The plan is to handle everything from supplying raw materials for nucleic acid drugs to GMP manufacturing of the drug substance within one company. Production will take place in a new building at Hodogaya's Koriyama Plant in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, which the company says will house GMP-compliant synthesis equipment and cleanrooms.

The route into drug substance runs through OLED chemistry. Hodogaya itself is strong in hole-transport materials, and its South Korean group company SFC Co., Ltd. makes light-emitting materials. SFC carried that know-how into diagnostic oligonucleotide products. Probes used in genetic tests carry a fluorescent dye at one end and a quencher at the other so that they light up only when bound to their target, and that chemistry sits close to OLED materials. SFC then built a Bio Park in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and moved into oligonucleotide synthesis and purification. NuChord is the next step: from raw materials to the drug substance itself.

The Chemical Daily (化学工業日報) has put the investment at between several billion yen and ¥10 billion. That figure comes from press reports, not from the company's disclosure. Fukushima Minpo reported that the new building is meant to set up an integrated production system. Hodogaya had named the nucleic acid CDMO business a new growth engine after OLED materials in CODE/CHORD 2030, the medium-term plan it published in May 2026. Setting up NuChord puts that plan into action.

The disclosure does not say when the new building will start up or at what scale GMP production will begin. In oligonucleotide contract manufacturing, synthesis scale and the handling of purification decide most outcomes. Until NuChord states how many grams to kilograms it can deliver, and at what purity, sponsors have little basis for deciding whether to approach it.