Fujirebio and Eisai Enter into Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Research and Social Implementation of Blood-based Biomarkers in the Field of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Fujirebio Holdings, Inc. (President & CEO: Goki Ishikawa; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo), a wholly-owned subsidiary of H.U. Group Holdings, Inc. (Chairman, President and Group CEO: Shigekazu Takeuchi; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo), and Eisai Co., Ltd. (Representative Corporate Officer and CEO: Haruo Naito; Head Office: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Eisai") announced today that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding for the joint research and social implementation of novel blood-based biomarkers in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.

Fujirebio and Eisai have been conducting joint research on cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

The two companies have agreed to move forward with their partnership based on the shared understanding that the development and commercialization of diagnostic methods for neurodegenerative diseases can be accelerated by integrating the long-standing respective expertise of Fujirebio, which has experience in the research and development of test reagents in the neurodegenerative disease field, and Eisai, which has been engaged in the research and development of therapeutics in the field of dementia. The partners plan to explore a wide range of possibilities for the collaboration, including the clinical implementation of diagnostic reagents for plasma phosphorylated tau 217 protein (p-Tau217), the research and development of simple diagnostic methods using novel blood-based biomarkers and the development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostics.

Through this non-exclusive partnership, Fujirebio and Eisai will establish diagnostic technologies for various neurodegenerative diseases with high unmet medical needs, and accelerate the expansion of these technologies globally to establish an environment where appropriate treatments can be selected and provided, thereby contributing to improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

About Fujirebio

Fujirebio, a member of H.U. Group Holdings Inc., is a global leader in the field of high-quality IVD testing with more than 50 years’ accumulated experience in the conception, development, production, and worldwide commercialization of robust IVD products. Fujirebio was the first company to develop and market CSF biomarkers for AD testing, under the Innogenetics brand, over 25 years ago. Fujirebio remains the only company with such a comprehensive line-up of manual and fully automated neurodegenerative disease assays and consistently partners with organizations and clinical experts across the world to develop new pathways for earlier, easier, and more complete neurodegenerative diagnostic tools. For more information, please visit www.fujirebio.com.

About Eisai Co., Ltd.

Eisai's Corporate Concept is "to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides." Under this Concept (also known as human health care (hhc) Concept), we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology.

In addition, we demonstrate our commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by working on various activities together with global partners.

For more information about Eisai, please visit www.eisai.com (for global headquarters: Eisai. Co., Ltd.), and connect with us on X (global), LinkedIn (for global) and Facebook (global).

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