CMIC Starts Collaborative Research with Keio University
– Ensure Vaccination Compliance with harmo^®–

Tokyo – June 1, 2020 – CMIC HOLDINGS Co., LTD. (henceforth “CMIC”) is pleased to announce the start of research and development with Keio University (Wellbeing Research Center, Graduate School of System Design and Management）aiming to promote accurate and timely vaccination by using harmo^®’s electronic information management system. harmo^® is the electronic prescription record service and this new study will be utilizing the electronic vaccination data incorporated to harmo^®. This research and development is a part of collaborative research with Keio University regarding “Improving users’ well-being by using Personal Health Record System” signed on November 13, 2019.

■Backgrounds

Recently, multiple vaccines are available for routine vaccinations and this contributed to improve public health. On the other hand, the age (months of age), vaccination interval, and number of vaccinations vary depending on the type of vaccines and due to this, an increase in mistakes related to vaccination misuse such as misunderstanding of vaccination interval/number of vaccinations and use of expired vaccine, has been reported^※1.  Especially in the infancy period from 2 to 11 months of age, the number of vaccinations has increased^※2 and the schedules for vaccination have become complicated. Effective measures are required to prevent accidental false inoculations.

■About the Research

１）Manage vaccinations with harmo^®, the electronic prescription record service

In this research, CMIC will conduct a social experiment using the newly established vaccination control system incorporated into harmo^® which has a proven track record in electronic prescription records. CMIC has installed harmo^®’s system equipment (reader) at 29 medical institutions that provide vaccination for infants in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-City, Kanagawa Prefecture. These medical institutions will provide a harmo IC card to the parents or guardian of 400 infants, targeted for this research, and will input the schedule of the vaccinations. Doctors can check and input the target infants’ vaccination information and history at the time of consultation by touching the harmo^® IC card to the reader at the medical institution.

Through social experiments, we verify suitability for workflows at the medical institutions and also aim to establish a more effective system by collecting users’ opinions and reflect them on the further development.

２）Reduction of errors, such as immunization interval mistakes, in vaccination

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s summary^※3 , more than half of the vaccination errors are reported as incorrect vaccination intervals. In this research, the doctor reads GS1 code on each injection box with a bar-code reader before vaccination and harmo^®’s system uses the past records to check the appropriate vaccination interval, frequency, dose, and the expiration date, etc. The checked results will be displayed on the monitor to help the doctor in deciding whether or not to inoculate. With this system, we aim to reduce 50% to 70% of existing errors such as incorrect vaccination interval, incorrect vaccine, and use of expired vaccine.

＜Reference＞

■Scheduled research period：From June 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023

■Target：Unvaccinated infants after the age of two months who reside in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-City, Kanagawa prefecture

■Number of targets：400（tentative）

■Each role in the collaborative research

“Infant vaccination is becoming more and more complicated each year. As a pediatrician, I feel that it is so difficult to check the infants’ status with a paper maternal and child handbook within the limited time at the consultation. If our research about quick and accurate check using harmo^® becomes a success, we believe that patients can be made more relieved. Therefore, we would like to firmly provide evidence that we were able to reduce mistakes in vaccination by using harmo^®’s system. I believe the vaccination management system using harmo^® is very effective for both patients and doctors. Please count on us for the favorable results.” said Dr. Atsushi Narabayashi, Co-Researcher in Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Keio University.

“CMIC Group’s mission is an innovative and unique provider of high-quality solutions for the healthcare industry. We create value by accelerating the access to therapies that improve patients’ lives. The importance of preventive healthcare is recognized again worldwide because of the current situation of events related to coronaviruses. In this research, we will utilize the innovative PHR solution using harmo^® possessed by CMIC to challenge the creation of values by enhancing the compliance of vaccination which is a major preventive healthcare approach. We hope that our research and development will lead to the safe and proper use of medicines and improve people’s well-being for the future.” said Kazuo Nakamura, Representative Director and CEO of CMIC HOLDINGS.

※1：October 24, 2017, Health Division in Health Service Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare “Regarding prevention of Vaccination mistakes”

※2：January, 2020, Japan Pediatric Society “Changes in the vaccination schedule recommended by Japan Pediatric Society”

※3：August 7, 2019, The 32nd Health Science Council Vaccination/ Vaccine Subcommittee Basic Vaccination Policy Subcommittee Material 5

■About harmo^®

harmo^® is an electronic prescription record service designed and based on the concept of PHR (Personal Health Records) in which individuals manage their own health information. This is provided by CMIC HealthCare Institute Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the healthcare business of the CMIC Group.

harmo^® features as an electronic prescription record that uses a dedicated card in addition to a smartphone application. As of April 2020, it has approximately 400,000 smartphone application and IC card users and is the largest PHR platform in Japan that has been used by more than 12,000 pharmacies nationwide.

The service is also based on innovative technologies that enable feedback to a specific individual via the service while maintaining anonymity by physically separating and managing information that easily identifies the individual and health data. Please refer to the official website (Japanese only) for more information. Click here for the harmo website

■About CMIC group

CMIC Group was founded in 1992 as the first Contract Research Organization (CRO) in Japan. Today CMIC Group is the largest clinical CRO in Japan with global footprint, providing comprehensive services in drug development, clinical site management, clinical to commercial GMP manufacturing, regulatory consulting and contract sales & marketing solutions. We can help pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies to enter Japan market, to conduct clinical trials in Asia, or to bridge drug development and manufacturing needs in the US, Europe, Japan and broader Asia. CMIC Group has over 7,000 employees and 25 sites globally.

For more information about CMIC Group and services, please visit our website.  https://en.cmicgroup.com/

【Contact us】

CMIC HOLDINGS Co., LTD. PR group

E-mail: pr@cmic.co.jp