- For Print
- August 29, 2013
Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) announced today that it has entered into a community development partnership agreement with the City of Yokohama (Mayor: Fumiko Hayashi) in Kanagawa, Japan, with the aim of promoting local dementia support initiatives. Based on the agreement, Eisai will be working closely with the City to promote a wider understanding of dementia and awareness on the human rights of individuals living with the disease as well as support cooperation among local government, medical, care and other agencies to create a community that provides a consistently safe and stress-free environment for people living with dementia.
The company has been promoting community development initiatives as a major focus of its business activities in Japan since 2008, aiming to create local communities where residents can live their lives peacefully and comfortably, including individuals living with disease. Seeking to provide dementia support as one part of these activities, Eisai entered into a community development partnership with Yokohama’s Asahi Ward in March, 2010. Asahi Ward has the largest aging population per capita of all Yokohama wards and the local authority has been actively adopting measures to better provide dementia support initiatives. Through its existing partnership with Asahi Ward, Eisai has been supporting local Dementia Supporter*training seminars, training programs for healthcare professionals, and other related projects. The new Yokohama-wide partnership will see Eisai expand ongoing initiatives in Asahi to other wards of the city. Specifically, Eisai will focus on promoting dementia education and awareness through support for Dementia Supporter training seminars run by the City of Yokohama; creation of medical- and care-related networks for a range of professions across government, medical, care and other areas; support for local roundtable discussions on community development, during which residents can gather and engage in exchange on various dementia support issues; and other initiatives.
Eisai will continue to actively expand its community development activities to create local communities where individuals are able to cooperate with medical and care experts, government, independent organizations and fellow residents, where access to early diagnosis and treatment is thoroughly assured, and where patients and other residents can live their lives with the support they need.
- *Dementia Supporters are individuals with an accurate understanding of dementia and who give their support to protecting the best interests of patients with dementia and those of patients' families. The City of Yokohama aims to increase its number of Dementia Supporters to 100,000 people and is actively running Dementia Supporter training seminars to achieve this goal.
[ Please refer to the following notes for further information on Eisai's commitment to dementia initiatives. ]
Media Inquiries:
Public Relations Department,
Eisai Co., Ltd.
+81-(0)3-3817-5120
1. Eisai's Commitment to Dementia Initiatives
Since launching the Alzheimer's disease treatment Aricept®, Eisai has been committed to enhancing the value that the drug provides patients through development of new formulations and additional indications, organizing disease education and awareness activities that seek to promote early diagnosis and treatment, and the improvement of diagnostic technologies. In Japan, Aricept reflects the diverse needs of patients and caregivers through the availability of a wide range of formulations, including tablets, orally disintegrating tablets, fine granules, an oral jelly, and a dry syrup formulation. Eisai is also currently conducting clinical development projects for Aricept in Japan, including to obtain approval for its use in the treatment of dementia with Lewy bodies (Phase III) and for a higher dose, 23 mg tablet formulation (Phase III).
Furthermore, aiming to develop next-generation Alzheimer's disease treatments, Eisai is also pursuing the development of a novel monoclonal antibody targeting for Aβ protofibrils as well as a β -site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor, as it seeks to make further contributions to address the diverse needs of, and increase the benefits provided to, patients with Alzheimer's disease and their families.