The first companies to be invested in by the Tohoku Life Science Impact Fund, established in May 2024 with 425 million yen to foster life science companies in the Tohoku region, are The IT Lab from Morioka and TBA from Sendai.

The IT Lab was established in 2022 and is developing its own technology that can easily detect the risk of cancer throughout the body from stage 1 via a simple saliva test. It plans to start providing cancer test kits that can be purchased at drugstores by general users in the future.

TBA is a venture company established in 2013 as a spin-off from Tohoku University, and is working on high-precision genetic testing tools at low prices. The fund has evaluated the company's aim to popularize genetic testing in developing countries, where high-priced medical equipment is not widely available.

The amount of investment has not been disclosed, but it is thought to be in the tens of millions of yen for both companies.

‍