---
title: Mitsui & Co. and QSimulate to Enhance QIDO Functions for Pharmaceutical Research Through Co-creation with Chugai Pharmaceutical and Participate in a JHPC-quantum Selected Project｜Mitsui & Co. Quantum Innovations
description: Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Quantum Simulation Technologies, Inc. , together with Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. , will develop and enhance functions for pharmaceutical research in QIDO , a quantum-integrated chemistry platform, with the aim of advancing chemical reaction analysis in drug discovery and pharmaceutical research.
image: https://mitsui-q.com/hubfs/ogp_en-1.png
---

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2026.11.12

 Press Release

# Mitsui & Co. and QSimulate to Enhance QIDO Functions for Pharmaceutical Research Through Co-creation with Chugai Pharmaceutical and Participate in a JHPC-quantum Selected Project

**Classical, GPU, and Quantum Hybrid Computational Workflow for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Synthesis Processes to Be Evaluated in a JHPC-quantum Selected Project Led by Chugai Pharmaceutical**

Tokyo, November 12, 2026 - Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") and Quantum Simulation Technologies, Inc. ("QSimulate"), together with Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Chugai Pharmaceutical"), will develop and enhance functions for pharmaceutical research in QIDO (Quantum-Integrated Discovery Orchestrator), a quantum-integrated chemistry platform, with the aim of advancing chemical reaction analysis in drug discovery and pharmaceutical research.

In this initiative, the parties will develop functions required for pharmaceutical research involving complex molecules and chemical reactions, based on pharmaceutical research needs identified through Chugai Pharmaceutical's evaluation of QIDO and on technical and practical discussions among the three companies. The functions to be developed will be incorporated into the QIDO product roadmap and are planned to be offered by Mitsui and QSimulate as general-purpose QIDO product functions for use by a broad range of pharmaceutical and chemical companies, including Chugai Pharmaceutical.

In parallel, a project led by Chugai Pharmaceutical, with QSimulate as a co-proposer, has been selected for the JHPC-quantum Test User Program. Mitsui will participate in the project as a collaborator. QIDO will be implemented in the JHPC-quantum integrated quantum-HPC platform to evaluate complex chemical reactions in active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis processes. The program will progressively assess the technical feasibility, scientific validity, reproducibility, operability, and applicability to pharmaceutical research of computational workflows combining classical, GPU, and quantum computing.

## Advancing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Process Development

As drug discovery becomes increasingly challenging, the chemical structures of pharmaceutical compounds are becoming more complex, making the development of active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis processes more difficult.

Addressing these challenges requires a detailed understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms, highly accurate prediction of reaction pathways and side reactions, and the rational narrowing of promising reaction pathways and reaction conditions. This initiative will develop QIDO functions that support these activities and evaluate their applicability to pharmaceutical research.

## Development of QIDO Functions for Pharmaceutical Research

Based on previous evaluations of QIDO and discussions among Chugai Pharmaceutical, QSimulate, and Mitsui, this initiative will develop functions required to apply QIDO to the complex molecules and chemical reactions encountered in pharmaceutical research. These developments will enhance QIDO as a computational chemistry platform that can be applied to a broader range of pharmaceutical research challenges.

The initiative primarily plans to develop and enhance the following functions:

- Enhanced reaction mechanism analysis and reaction pathway exploration for complex molecules and chemical reactions encountered in pharmaceutical research
- Expanded computational workflows for efficiently generating and evaluating candidate structures of reactants, products, reaction intermediates, and transition states
- Enhanced user interfaces and computational workflows that enable pharmaceutical researchers to efficiently configure and review complex computational conditions and methods

The functions developed will be incorporated into the QIDO product roadmap and are planned to be offered to a broad range of pharmaceutical and chemical companies.

## Evaluation Through the JHPC-quantum Test User Program

QIDO is a quantum-integrated chemistry platform that integrates InQuanto™, quantum computing software for chemistry simulation developed by quantum computing company Quantinuum. In this initiative, QIDO will be implemented in the JHPC-quantum integrated quantum-HPC platform to evaluate the technical feasibility and effectiveness of a hybrid workflow combining large-scale reaction pathway analysis using HPC and GPU environments with quantum-algorithm-based electronic-structure and energy evaluations of reaction centers selected through classical computation.

The project is considering the use of computing resources made available through JHPC-quantum, including Quantinuum's Reimei quantum computer, IBM Quantum System Two (ibm\_kobe), and the ROQUO JHPC-quantum GPU supercomputer. Quantum computers are not intended to replace all computations. Instead, the project will apply them to electronic-structure and energy evaluations of reaction centers selected through classical computation and investigate the potential for more precise evaluation of electronic states and energy differences associated with the desired reaction and side reactions.

The JHPC-quantum Test User Program provides access to an environment integrating quantum computers and HPC, enabling the evaluation of integrated quantum-HPC applications based on real-world use cases. Rather than assessing individual computational methods in isolation, this initiative will combine classical, GPU, and quantum computing according to their respective strengths, with a view to establishing computational workflows usable in pharmaceutical research, and will assess their technical feasibility, effectiveness, reproducibility, and operational challenges.

Going forward, the parties will progressively develop functions for pharmaceutical research and conduct evaluations through JHPC-quantum. The results obtained through JHPC-quantum are expected to be used to enhance QIDO functions and to develop and evaluate new computational workflows for pharmaceutical research, including active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis processes.

## Roles of the Participating Companies

Chugai Pharmaceutical will present pharmaceutical research challenges and use cases related to active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis processes, participate in defining the functional requirements needed for pharmaceutical research, and evaluate the scientific validity of QIDO-based analytical results and their applicability to pharmaceutical research.

QSimulate and Mitsui will advance the development of QIDO functions for pharmaceutical research based on the needs identified through Chugai Pharmaceutical's research challenges and evaluation of QIDO, and will jointly support the JHPC-quantum evaluation. QSimulate will primarily be responsible for developing QIDO product functions and constructing and implementing computational workflows. Mitsui will primarily be responsible for defining the research project, coordinating the relevant parties, advancing the overall project, and developing the business.

Quantinuum will provide technical expertise related to the use of InQuanto, which is integrated into QIDO, and its connection to quantum computing environments, thereby supporting the use of quantum computing in this initiative.

## Comments from the Companies

**Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.   
Dr. Akihiko Arakawa, Data Scientist, Digital Strategy Planning Department**

> "To advance active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis processes for structurally complex pharmaceutical compounds, it is important to understand chemical reaction mechanisms in detail and rationally narrow the promising reaction pathways and conditions. We will incorporate insights gained through the evaluation of QIDO into its functional development and assess its applicability to pharmaceutical research by evaluating hybrid quantum-classical computational workflows using the JHPC-quantum environment."

**Quantum Simulation Technologies, Inc.   
Toru Shiozaki, President and CEO**

> "Applying QIDO to the complex chemical reactions encountered in pharmaceutical research and evaluating HPC-based reaction pathway exploration and quantum-algorithm-based electronic-structure and energy evaluation as an integrated workflow represent an important step forward. Based on the pharmaceutical research needs and functional requirements identified through our discussions with Chugai Pharmaceutical, we will implement functions that can be used across a broad range of pharmaceutical research and enhance QIDO in terms of both scientific validity and operability in practical research."

**Mitsui & Co., Ltd.   
Tomoya Hamano, Tech Strategy & Commercialization Manager, Quantum Innovation Department, Corporate Development Business Unit**

> "QIDO is a platform that connects practical computational chemistry functions for addressing current research challenges with the future use of quantum computing. Starting from a concrete pharmaceutical use case pursued with Chugai Pharmaceutical and QSimulate, we will advance the joint definition of the research project, functional development, evaluation through JHPC-quantum, and commercialization in an integrated manner. We aim to offer the functions developed and enhanced through this initiative as QIDO product functions and expand their use across a broad range of research and development fields, including the pharmaceutical and chemical industries."

Quantinuum   
Dr. Simon McAdams, Senior Product Manager, R&D - InQuanto

> “We are delighted that QIDO will be leveraged in this initiative, jointly proposed by Chugai Pharmaceutical and QSimulate, selected for RIKEN's JHPC-quantum Test User Program, and supported by Mitsui & Co. We believe this initiative will further accelerate Chugai Pharmaceutical's adoption of quantum computing and pave the way for broader applications of QIDO and InQuanto in drug discovery and related fields. Quantinuum looks forward to working closely with our partners to support this collaboration and bring the Quantum-HPC platform closer to practical applications. ”

## About QIDO

QIDO is a quantum-integrated chemistry platform announced by Mitsui, QSimulate, and Quantinuum in August 2025. It is designed to support a deeper understanding of complex chemical reactions and better-informed research and development decisions in fields such as drug discovery, materials, energy, and chemicals.

## About JHPC-quantum

JHPC-quantum is a research and development project that develops system software connecting quantum computers with high-performance computing systems and establishes and demonstrates an integrated quantum-HPC computing platform. The project is being carried out as part of the NEDO-commissioned project “Research and Development of Quantum-Supercomputers Hybrid Platform for Exploration of Uncharted Computable Capabilities” (Representative Project Leader: Mitsuhisa Sato), under NEDO’s “Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems” (JPNP20017), supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

## Inquiries

For inquiries regarding this announcement, the purchase or trial of QIDO, or further information about QIDO products and services, please visit the official QIDO website:  
[https://mitsui-q.com/en/qido/](https://mitsui-q.com/en/qido/)

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