October 11, 2022
CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Chairman and CEO: Kazuo Nakamura; hereinafter, CMIC Group) announces today that it has entered into a capital and business-alliance agreement with KNOCK ON THE DOOR Inc. (headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hiroomi Hayashi; hereinafter, KOD) and will acquire stock through the underwriting of a third-party allotment of new shares issued by KOD and the transfer of previously issued preferred shares, thereby making KOD a subsidiary.

As Japan’s first contract research organization (CRO) for pharmaceutical products, CMIC Group has developed a comprehensive business model called PVC(Pharmaceutical Value Creator) that provides support for pharmaceutical companies, from development to manufacturing, sales, and marketing.

In addition, CMIC Group is expanding into the healthcare sector and strengthening its support for digitalization. It includes the development of harmo®, and making advances in support for total disease care, from prevention to diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Working with patients, their families, and healthcare providers, KOD has developed expertise in creating support platforms for rare diseases and is currently developing a business focusing on “nanacara®”, a platform for supporting patients with epilepsy.(*1)

*1: A chronic brain disease that causes symptoms (epilepsy seizures) such as impaired consciousness and convulsions associated with excess electrical excitations in the nerve cells in the brain.

Aim of the Alliance

Through this alliance, CMIC Group will broaden its digital platforms, with the aim of increasing the health value of individuals through harmo, while deepening its ties with medical institutions and healthcare providers.

In addition, this will creates synergies with CMIC group companies, including providing support for patients and their families in the field of rare diseases as well as clinical testing through partnerships with CRO and SMO businesses.

Future Initiatives

Building on CMIC Group’s large network of healthcare providers, KOD will continue to strengthen its nanacara platform, which makes it possible for epilepsy patients and their families to share and manage daily records such as seizure frequency and medication status. CMIC Group will also develop services based on nanacara for other diseases, with the aim of providing a wide range of patient-centered services.

In the near future, CMIC Group plans to integrate harmo, which utilizes information related to primary care medicine, with nanacara, which utilizes disease-specific information in specialized fields, into a single comprehensive service. For example, for patients and their families, the app will automatically register prescription drug dosage information and provide disease-management tools related to those drugs, while for healthcare providers, the system will function as a personal health record based on information from harmo. In this way, the platform will provide added value to patients, their families, and their healthcare providers by enabling understanding of disease-specific complaints.

CMIC Group and KOD are developing a healthcare platform tailored to the individual, from primary to specialized care, in pursuit of our corporate vision of “a company that provides personalized care and support.”

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 a global footprint, providing comprehensive services in drug development, clinical site management, manufacturing, regulatory consulting and contract sales & marketing solutions. We can help pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies to enter the Japanese 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 7,500 employees and 25 sites globally. For more information about CMIC Group and services, please visit our website: https://en.cmicgroup.com/

About KNOCK ON THE DOOR

KOD is developing a business focusing on support platforms for patients and their families. Released in March 2020, the nanacara app makes it possible for epilepsy patients, many of whom have incurable diseases, and their families to share and manage daily records, including medication status and seizure frequency. KOD has also developed nanacara for Doctors, a cloud-based service for doctors that makes it possible for doctors to view nanacara information while treating patients. The nanacara app has been downloaded 21,000 times and boasts a 21% share of the market (*2), while nanacara for Doctors has been installed at 175 medical institutions and has obtained a 38.9% market share (*3). In September 2022, KOD released the nana-medi online diagnosis and medication guidance service, which supports the treatment of epilepsy.

In the future, KOD will accelerate the expansion of its support platforms for patients and their families, focusing on rare and incurable diseases, by leveraging the technology and expertise it has developed in the field of epilepsy.

For more information, please visit the KOD website: https://knockonthedoor.jp/

*2: Proportion of the estimated number of patients with incurable childhood epilepsy (as of Oct. 11, 2022; based on a KOD survey).
*3: Proportion of the estimated number of medical institutions with a department specializing in epilepsy (as of Oct. 11, 2022; based on a KOD survey).

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