EISAI AND FCNT ENTER INTO BUSINESS ALLIANCE AIMING TO SUPPORT PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA AND TO PREVENT DEMENTIADeveloping solutions such as smartphones equipped with the brain health check tool “NouKNOW®”

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) and FCNT LIMITED (Headquarters: Kanagawa, CEO: Katsumi Takada, “FCNT”) announced today that both companies have entered into a business alliance agreement aiming to support people living with dementia and to prevent dementia, through developing solutions for maintaining brain performance. Both companies will construct an ecosystem with the aim of supporting people living with and preventing dementia (“Dementia Ecosystem”), with integrating Eisai's wealth of experience and knowledge including drug creation and disease awareness activities as well as Eisai's solution measures such as digital technology, in the area of dementia, and FCNT’s products such as smartphones designed to offer outstanding usability for the elderly as well as FCNT’s services including “Raku Raku Community” on SNS targeting such smartphone users. With constructing a “Dementia Ecosystem”, both companies aim to contribute to the solution of dementia, which is one of the important social issues in an aging society.

 

The initiatives planned under the alliance are as follows.

 

  • 1.
    1. The “NouKNOW®” will be installed on the “Raku Raku Smartphone”

    The “Raku Raku Smartphone F-52B” developed and manufactured by FCNT will be equipped with the digital tool for self-assessment of brain performance (brain health) “NouKNOW” (pronounced “NOH-NOH”, non-medical equipment) distributed by Eisai. It is scheduled to be released by NTT DOCOMO, INC. (Headquarters: Tokyo, “NTT DOCOMO”) in or after February 2022. This will be the first time that “NouKNOW” is deployed as a function that can be operated on a smartphone. F-52B users will be provided with brain performance checks at no cost by “NouKNOW” up to 4 times a year.

  • 2.
    1. Developing solutions for retaining good health and the disease prevention

    Eisai and FCNT will develop highly convenient solutions for the prevention of dementia, such as identifying future health concerns and predicting risks, with utilizing FCNT’s healthcare information infrastructure to accumulate data available among users, including step count, step speed and heart rate, as well as its management capacity to develop membership services such as “Raku-Raku Community” (2.4 million members as of August 2021. Based on available information by FCNT), an SNS service for seniors with a membership system, in addition to Eisai’s know-how based on various data in the area of dementia. Furthermore, the both companies aim to deploy the new solutions developed based on this alliance for corporate customer, including businesses and regional governments, as a packaged solution that combines products and services owned by not only Eisai and FCNT but also other industries and organizations.

Eisai and FCNT will address and resolve the social issue related to dementia, and promote co-creation of value toward realizing a healthy and long-lived society through contributing to the construction of a “Dementia Ecosystem” by combining the strengths of the both companies.

 

Media Inquiries

  • Eisai Co., Ltd. 

    Eisai Co., Ltd.

    Public Relations Department

    TEL: +81-(0)3-3817-5120

  • FCNT LIMITED

    Public Relations & Branding Strategy Office

    mb-pr.release@fcnt.com

<Notes to editors>

1. About “NouKNOW”

“NouKNOW” (non-medical equipment) is a self-checking tool of brain performance (brain health) developed by Eisai based on the algorithm created by Cogstate, Ltd. (Headquarters: Australia) for which Eisai holds the rights for exclusive development and commercialization worldwide. It is not a tool for the prevention and diagnosis of diseases, but therefore for the purpose of self-checking brain performance in order to raise health awareness. It is conducted through a simple card test using a PC, tablet or smartphone device to quantitatively measure brain performance in four tests evaluating psychomotor function, attention, learning and memory, and working memory. This digital tool allows users to self-assess independently and in a short time frame (approx.15 minutes), enabling regular assessments in instances such as daily life and health checkups. On the results screen, a score (brain performance index (BPI)) - as a measurement of quantified brain performance aspects such as memorization, cognition, and decision - appears along with lifestyle advice for maintaining brain performance.

For more information about “NouKNOW”, please visit https://nouknow.jp/ (Japanese only)

 

2. About “Raku-Raku Smartphone”

“Raku-Raku Smartphone” is designed for “easy to see,” “easy to hear,” “easy to use,” featuring extra-large size fonts and easy-to-press touch panel. Until today, FCNT has shipped more than seven million units in total (As of the end of April 2021. Based on available information by NTT DOCOMO), and it is currently used by the number of users.

FCNT is working on the development of health technologies to deal with major concern among older adults, and continuously introducing useful features to support user’s wellness. On the latest “Raku-Raku Smartphone” users can manage their blood pressure record easily, and furthermore, there is a feature to maintain brain health by encouraging users to walk every day. Through those features, users can maintain their health and improve their lifestyle while having fun.

 

3. About Eisai Co., Ltd.

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as “giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides,” which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products to address unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology. Eisai has started a new medium-term business plan “EWAY Future & Beyond” in April 2021, aiming to remove the anxiety of The People, including not only patients but also society at large, with delivering not only pharmaceutical products but also solutions to The People, utilizing the latest digital technology such as AI. Eisai will achieve this goal with “hhceco”, which is the hhc philosophy combined with ecosystem. Eisai aims to remove diverse anxiety of The People by coexisting with various industries and associations, centered on the Eisai Universal Platform which delivers a packaged solutions in addition to pharmaceutical products through synergies between the technologies of various external partners and its own R&D. As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through our investment and participation in partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries.

For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit https://www.eisai.com

 

4. About FCNT LIMITED

As of April 1st, 2021, FCNT LIMITED is the new name of Fujitsu Connected Technologies Limited. Through 30 years of experience in mobile phone industry, FCNT has been developing various products such as “Raku-Raku PHONE,” “Raku-Raku Smartphone,” and “arrows” smartphone, covering a wide range of user generations.

“Creating New ‘Connects’” is the mission statement of FCNT. With this statement in the heart, FCNT will continue to evolve existing businesses and accelerate the move toward new opportunities in 5G IoT era. For existing businesses, FCNT will pursue further customer satisfaction on “Raku-Raku Smartphone” and “arrows” smartphone. In regard to the new challenges, FCNT is providing the next generation wireless devices, expanding its range of solutions, and making customer life experience positive through various services. FCNT will create new value for the future by connecting people, things, and services in a more comfortable way through the advanced technologies with superior ideas.

For more details, please visit https://www.fcnt.com/ (Japanese only)