July 22, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Company:KYORIN Holdings, Inc.
Representative: Masahiro Yamashita
Representative Director, President(Securities Code: 4569, TSE 1st Sec.)Kyorin signed a License Agreement with Merck
on Vibegron for Overactive Bladder in JapanKYORIN Holdings, Inc. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, KYORIN
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Kyorin”, Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President & CEO:
Mitsutomo Miyashita, Ph.D.), has entered into a license agreement with Merck & Co., Inc.
(“Merck”, Head Office: New Jersey, U.S.A., CEO: Kenneth C. Frazier) for Merck’s investigationaloveractive bladder (OAB) therapeutic agent, Vibegron (Merck’s Development Code: MK-4618).
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck has granted to Kyorin an exclusive license to develop,
manufacture and commercialize Vibegron in Japan. Kyorin will make an upfront payment andadditional contingent milestone payments to Merck, including royalties on product sales.
Vibegron is a new chemical entity discovered by Merck with selective beta 3 adrenergic receptor
agonist activity and is expected to be a once daily therapeutic medication in patients with OAB.
Vibegron improves OAB symptoms such as urinary urgency, micturition and urge incontinence
through stimulation of the beta 3 receptor in bladder which improves bladder muscle atony
during the period of urine pooling. Multi-national Ph2b studies including Japan have been
completed by Merck, and Kyorin is planning to proceed development in a Phase 3 study inJapan.
Kyorin has been pursuing the franchise customer strategy on the fields of respiratory,
ear-nose-throat and urology and expects that this transaction will heighten its presence in theurology field. The company will complete the development of Vibegron as quickly as possible
and aims for further contribution to the OAB treatments by offering a new medication option toOAB patients.
Merck is working on a global initiative to sharpen its research and development focus and has
decided, in that process, to out-license Vibegron to Kyorin.
Kyorin believes that this transaction will, under the principles of contribution to people’s health,further contribute to the improvement of the QOL of the patients with OAB symptoms in Japan.
Kyorin will timely disclose the impact of this transaction on earnings once details are finalized.

About Overactive Bladder (OAB)
Overactive bladder is a symptom complex with a problem of bladder-storage function in which
urinary urgency is observed as main complaint commonly associate with micturition and in somecases, urinary incontinence, too. OAB symptoms cause a serious problem directly linked toinferior in quality of daily life of the patient and limit the patients’ work and social life. For
example, patients tend to refrain from going out due to whose apprehension to urge to visit
bathroom or lack of sleep by nocturia.
In accordance with the epidemiological surveillance by Japan Neurogenic Bladder Society in
2003, the number of potential patient of OAB in Japan is estimated about 810,000, which means
12.4% population in men and women who are 40 years of age or more.
About Merck
Today's Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known
as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through its prescription medicines, vaccines,
biologic therapies, and consumer care and animal health products, Merck works with customers
and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. Merck also
demonstrates its commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies,
programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.merck.com.