PUB L I C
REL ATI ONSMAG AZI NE

2019
WinterVol.15

Dialogue

SPECIAL TALK

Takashi Maeno × Kazuo Nakamura
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Kazuo Nakamura
Representative Director,
Chairman and CEO
CIMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

Takashi Maeno
Dialogue

Professor, Graduate School of System
Design and Management
Keio University
Wellbeing Research Center Director

Theme of the Cover:03

10

Dialogue

Takashi Maeno

Kazuo Nakamura

Professor, Graduate School of System
Design and Management
Keio University
Wellbeing Research Center Director

Representative Director,
Chairman and CEO
CIMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

A city in winter with snowfall. People
are attempting to communicate bydrawing on clean snow. But it seems
that it’s not quite as good as they
thought. The theme of the coverillustration is “changing perspectives.” It
is commonplace for each person to havea different interpretation despite seeing
and hearing the same thing. So making
consistent efforts to communicate inorder to reach the same perspective isvery important.

Challenge to a Rare Disease
Commitment to Taking on Rare Diseases:

Initiatives by the Japanese Society for Inherited
Metabolic Diseases to Introduce Rare Diseases
Drugs to the World14

Our Creative Services at CMIC

Contract Formulation Development andManufacturing Services

18

CMIC NEWS

Achieving well-being beyond the concept ofhealth in an era of 100-year lives

What is C-PRESS?

Published December 2019
Published by CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd
MC & PR Group, Corporate Marketing Division
Hamamatsucho Building, 1-1, Shibaura 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0023
Phone: 03-6779-8200 Website: www.cmicgroup.com/eSupervised by Yoshihiko Mochizuki (Chairman of the Board of Directors at Medical
Corporation Emilio Moriguchi, Director of the Shibaura Three One Clinic)

The “C” of C-PRESS refers to the “C” of
CMIC and the “C” of communication.
C-PRESS is CMIC Group’s public
relations bulletin, which presents
corporate activities and business linesof the Group centered on topics in the
medical and healthcare fields.

While Japan has one of the longest life expectancies in the world,
it ranks #58 out of 156 countries in the World Happiness Report 1),
indicating that longevity does not necessarily correlate to happiness.
What do we need to live happily?
CEO Nakamura interviewed Professor Takashi Maeno of Keio University,
who has carried out a wide range of studies—on approaches to “well-being”
as well as to “happiness”—in order to search what needs to be done to build a society
where each person can achieve well-being.

Dialogue

Shifting from engineering
to well-being
Nakamura: When I first heard about yourstudies, I was very impressed with how
you adopted a completely different
approach toward reaching the concept of“well-being,” which CMIC have been
embracing as a key since our foundation.
To start, can you tell me how you came to
study well-being?
Maeno: I was originally an engineer. I
worked for a camera manufacturer after
studying mechanical engineering incollege. When I became a professor, I
devoted myself to studying robots in an
attempt to reproduce the human spirit.
However, although robots have gradually
come to more closely imitate the human
body, they are barely able to feign the sprit.
I then came to realize that I have been
studying humans themselves by having
robots mimic them, which strongly
motivated me to deepen my understandingof the human spirit.
“Well-being” is a broad concept thatencompasses happiness, health, andwelfare; it is concerned with thefundamentals of the human spirit. At
present, however, the concept ofwell-being is missing from all social
structures and products. This inspired me
to adopt an engineering perspective toincorporate well-being into design
methodologies across all aspects, including
products, services, organizations, andcities.
Nakamura: In my case, my experiences
during my college years when there was awave of campus disputes convinced me tocreate new things with my hands, which islike creative destruction. At the same time,
my college was in Kyoto, and seeing thegraves of historical figures scattered about

Dialoguethe temples and such made them feel morefamiliar as well as led me to realize thatdeath is inevitable for all of us. Even after I
joined a pharmaceutical company, I always
thought about how I should live in thepresent if I cannot avoid death, as well as
what happiness really is in a society where
people live longer. That’s when“well-being” came to be my conclusion. I
believe that well-being is about making thebest effort to always improve, no matter
what the outcome may be. Well-being wasincorporated into CMIC’s corporate
culture upon its foundation, and that spirit
remains unchanged.

Establishing well-being as apractical academic
frameworks
Nakamura: Your approach of upgrading
well-being into a study system is uniqueand striking. Can you walk me through thedetails?
Maeno: Well-being is the state of having
health, happiness, and welfare. While
health is covered by medical science andwelfare is covered by welfare studies, theacademic landscape for happiness has notmatured. Of course, basic research on
psychology advances day by day, but I’man engineer and envision that insights
unraveled by science contribute to society
and help people. For that to happen, I
came to believe that a new framework thattakes an interdisciplinary approach towell-being should be established.
Nakamura: Indeed, well-being must be
tackled as an interdisciplinary issue. In
addition to “happiness,” it seems the word
“healthy” has also begun to deviate from
actual circumstances in the era in which
we live, where people live more than 100
years. If being “healthy” is defined ashaving normal health check results, I’dsay that most people in their 80s are nothealthy. But as I mentioned earlier,people face death eventually, and fromthis perspective, aging is just a natural
phenomenon. That said, each age groupand individuals have their own set of“well-being” in terms of physical health.
I believe well-being must be positioned
as the dominant conception of health.
Maeno: Absolutely. I believe that inaddition to medical science andpsychology, business administration,
economics, engineering, andpharmaceutical sciences, should be
systemized as applied studies ofwell-being.

The 4 factors
for happiness
Nakamura: Recently, Japan’s concept of“IKIGAI” (reason for being) has been
attracting attention around the world.
There have also been studies reported inwhich people who feel ikigai bycommitting to society and receiving
remuneration live longer than those who
do not feel ikigai. It is very encouraging
and delightful to see that studies on
well-being are now being systemized inJapan, where the wonderful concept ofikigai exists. I presume that the “fourfactors for happiness” derived from yoursophisticated engineering methodologies
are strongly associated with ikigai. Can
you tell me in detail about these four
factors? 2)
Maeno: Through a method called factor
analysis, I researched studies andstatistically compiled data regarding
happiness all over the world, and bysystemizing them, came to discover thefour factors that are keys to achieving

happiness. I named them as
The 4 factors for happinessfollows: “I’ll give it a try!”“Let’s have it as it is!” “It’ll
work out!” and “Thank“I’ll give it a try!”you!” Fulfilling these
Factorfactors will create happycompanies, cities, and“Let’s have it
societies. The senses of“Thank you!”as it is!”Factorfulfillment and ikigai fall
Factorunder the first factor, “I’llgive it a try!”. Studies show
“It’ll work out!”that people who feel ikigai
Factorare happy and live long. In
that sense, there is a strong
connection between
well-being, happiness, and ikigai.
Nakamura: Despite having such a
wonderful concept of ikigai, Japan ranksvery low in the World Happiness Report.
Why is this?
Maeno: There are two reasons. The firstis due to a problem with themeasurement method. The World
Happiness Report ranks the level ofhappiness by asking respondents to score
their lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0
being the worst and 10 being the best. In
countries with a stronger sense ofcollectivism, more respondents will givescores of “5.” But in countries whereindividualism prevails, respondents are
more inclined to subtract points fromthe maximum of 10, so there are more
scores of “8” and “9.” In Japan, there are
two peaks around the scores of “5” and“8.” This merely reflects Japan’s current
condition in which collectivism andindividualism are mixed; this differsfrom the country’s level of happiness.
Nonetheless, as demonstrated in
objective indicators such as the low levelof self-affirmation and high suicide rate,
it is a fact that Japan has a rather low
level of happiness. This must be taken
seriously. In order for Japan to survive inDialogue

international society, it is crucial torestore its spirit of mutual assistance inaddition to ikigai.
Nakamura: Upon seeing and hearing thewords and actions of disaster victims, I
still feel the spirit of mutual assistanceremains deep in the hearts of theJapanese. It is moving and I feel thatJapanese are blessed when seeing people
appreciate one another while accepting
their helplessness against the powers ofnature. Viewing the level of happiness inthis sense, Japan may be quite a leader.
Maeno: As you point out, the level ofhappiness is currently measured byasking respondents how happy they feel,so it is one-sided. The concept of“collective happiness” has recently beensuggested, and efforts are underway todevelop a multifaceted scale formeasuring happiness that also
incorporates factors such as mutual
assistance.

Happiness rooted inJapan’s nature
Nakamura: In addition to happinessbased on collectivism, it is also

Dialogueimportant to respect and encourage
diversity in each individual. However, it
seems that the educational structure for
fostering individuality is still
underdeveloped, given the low level ofdiversity among educators and the lackof personnel.
Maeno: Originally, Japan has shown an
inclination for collectivism, but giventhat individualism has also gained
stature recently, the strengths ofcollectivism, which encourages mutual
assistance, and the benefits ofencouraging uniqueness fromindividualism, are not working together.
I think that this has led to the country’s
decline in well-being.
Nakamura: In addition to having acollectivism-oriented culture, Japan also
has a culture of individualism,
exemplified by its people independently
interpreting the stories depicted by thefour seasons and nature. The
sophisticated plots of Japanese animethat receive accolades are another part ofthis culture. By contrast, Disney movies
depict rich emotions even for animals,
and I feel that human emotions are
vividly portrayed.
Maeno: In fact, the quality of emotions

that Japanese anime and Disney movies
stir up is quite different. According to
my analysis of how audiences weremoved, Frozen was rather monotonic,
while Spirited Away had multiple framesthat moved the audience, and thesediffered by the individual. I think this iswhat makes Japanese culture profound.
Nakamura: Japan is among the countries
that experience the most natural
disasters. However, in the same way that
volcanic ash cultivates land to underpin
agricultural culture, I think that disasters
have played a part in fostering Japan’sculture, which stays close to nature. In asense, this is Japan’s interpretation ofhappiness.
It would be truly wonderful if this spiritthat is deeply rooted in Japanese culture
could be translated to productdevelopment and organizational
establishment.
Maeno: Japan’s long-standing history
amid frequent disasters is proof of
sophisticated sustainability.
Because many notable cultures andtraditional arts remain throughout thecountry, Japan will be greatly enriched if
it can leverage these excellent qualities
scattered nationwide while
incorporating the benefits ofWestern-style centralization.

Achieving a society that
improves one another’swell-being
Maeno: Through my research, I reached
the conclusion that well-being is acondition in which all members ofsociety have their own ikigai andmaintain appropriate connections withother diverse members. Here, it isimportant to receive some form of
renumeration and appreciation while

having a sense of trust, ikigai, andconnection with others—in other words,
a “sense of purpose.” Our challenge is
how to create a society to actualize this.
Nakamura: Particularly in corporate
organizations, how to structure teams
and otherwise combine people is criticalfor maximizing individual potential.
What are your thoughts?
Maeno: Actually, this field is my current
interest. We are currently capable ofmeasuring happiness from amultifaceted approach by incorporating
extroversion and optimism, so applying
this method can measure anorganization’s level of happiness. Thismethod can also be applied to families,
and we were just about to start surveys
on the happiness of life and work forboth the company and the family.
Nakamura: Humans are creatures thatlive in groups after all, so such aperspective is important. Also, I think
art is another important element forhumans.
Maeno: Yes, art has a very strong
correlation with well-being. In addition
to aesthetics, art also refers broadly toactivities that enhance sensitivity anddeepen our understanding of beauty. Art
taken in this wide sense is known to
improve well-being.
Nakamura: Art in Japan is tremendously
extensive, ranging from the simple
beauty represented by wabi-sabi to
extravagant armory. Still, both ends arerooted in nature. This is why I findJapanese artistic sensibility to be truly
marvelous.
Maeno: Culturally, Japan has been
influenced by China and India, andpost-war by Western culture. However, it
is remarkable that while accepting allthese influences, Japan maintains its own
tastes at its core.
Nakamura: Meanwhile, although it is afact that the Japanese are not generallyinterested in promoting diversity,
acceptance of diversity will push forward
a culture that respects others’ opinions,which will in turn enhance mutual
well-being.
Lastly, what are the issues that must be
tackled in the study of well-being, andwhat is such study’s impact on society?
Maeno: To have well-being firmly takeroot, society as a whole must shift
towards focusing more on social capitaland a spirit of mutual cooperation,
instead of solely on money. I plan toestablish research and educational sites
for well-being based on
industry-government-academia
collaboration.
Nakamura: From a pharmaceuticalstandpoint, CMIC is working to build afoundation to help improve well-being
as the dominant conception of health,including developing methods that go
beyond use of pharmaceuticals. Thankyou for joining me today.

1) Helliwell, JF. Et al,World Happiness Report 2019
2) Takashi Maeno (2013),
Mechanism of Happiness: Introduction and Practicing
the Study of Happiness, Kodansha’s New Library ofKnowledge

P R O F I L E

Takashi Maeno
Professor, Graduate School of System Design andManagement
Keio University
Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, in 1962. Dr. Maeno received
his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineeringfrom the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Aftercompleting his Master’s, he worked for Canon, Inc. at
the Production Technology Research Center. Before
obtaining his current position in 2011, he was avisiting researcher at the Department of MechanicalEngineering, University of California, Berkeley andProfessor in the Department of MechanicalEngineering, Keio University. He received his Ph.D. inmechanical engineering from the Tokyo Institute ofTechnology in 1993. Dr. Maeno conducts research on
various types of system design and management,
including human interface design, robots, education,
local communities, business, happy lives, and world
peace.

Cha l lenge to a R a re Disea se

The Turning Point

Commitment to Taking on Rare Diseases:

Initiatives by the Japanese Society forInherited Metabolic Diseases toIntroduce Rare Diseases Drugs to the World
An issue for many drugs used to treat rare diseases is that there used to be many drugs that remained undeveloped andunapproved in Japan as very few patients required them, despite their use as standard drugs outside Japan. The numberof such unapproved drugs was particularly large in the pediatric field.
Dr. Toshihiro Ohura, the Assistant Director and the Head of the Pediatric Department of Sendai City Hospital, who hasaddressed the issues of unapproved drugs in the area of inherited metabolic diseases as the Chairperson of thePharmaceutical Affairs Committee of the Japanese Society for Inherited Metabolic Diseases (JSIMD) for a long 15 years
since 2004, talked about these issues.

Situation 15 Years Ago—Early Days of Orphan Drug Development
One of the roles of the JSIMD Pharmaceutical Affairs

Inherited metabolic diseases are medical conditions caused byCommittee is to promote the proper use and steady supply ofsome abnormality in metabolic processes, interfering with thedrugs. When I became the chairperson of the Committee inbody’s metabolism from birth. Most of these diseases are rare,

2004, most therapeutic drugs for inherited metabolic diseases

affecting very few people (from several to several hundred inwere not yet approved in Japan. We had to import these drugs

number) in Japan. The small market size and poor potential

privately or use Japanese drugs produced for experimental

sales, compounded by the high expected development costs,

purposes to treat affected patients. Even if drugs were available,

meant that pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to develop

there was a need to increase the number of indications for these

therapeutic drugs for inherited metabolic diseases. Meanwhile,

drugs as their approved indications were limited. Whenclinical trials of drugs for rare diseases (i.e., orphan drugs) had

privately-imported drugs or experimental drugs were used, they

started around this time, and some of such orphan drugs were

were prescribed after obtaining written consent from the legal

The Review conference of Unapproved Drugs Use Issue was

In addition, a new pricing system “Premium to promote thereorganized into a new special committee, “The Evaluation

development of new drugs and eliminate off-label use” wasCommittee on Unapproved or Off-labeled Drugs with High

introduced in 2010, which helped make pharmaceutical

Medical Needs” in 2010 to address wider issues related tocompanies become more actively involved in the development of

unapproved drugs and Off-label use of drugs in all medical

novel orphan drugs. With this Premium System, MHLW gives

fields, especially pediatrics. The MHLW then makes requests orpreferential treatment when revising drug prices to companies

open calls to related companies to develop drugs considered byengaging in the development of drugs requested or answering

this new Special Committee to have a high medical need. Since

the open call by MHLW, as well as companies involved inthen, development of unapproved or off-label drugs has

research and development of drugs contributing to theaccelerated.

enhancement of medicine quality.

Drugs That Have Become Available
With the help of the Premium System, more and more

have open calls for their development. Meanwhile, JSIMD

pharmaceutical companies began to work actively on thecontinues to request the development of unapproved drugs ofdevelopment of orphan drugs, and even new companies focusing

high medical need.

on or dedicated to the development of orphan drugs began toApproval of drugs is not our ultimate goal. JSIMD is working on

appear. Some drugs that have been in demand for years by

the proper use of approved drugs. For example, after sapropterin

patients and JSIMD have finally become available. The tablehydrochloride was approved for an additional indication, JSIMD

below lists the main drugs for which I was directly involved withestablished the Special Committee on Diagnosis and Treatment

as the chairperson of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Committee andof BH4-responsive Hyperphenylalaninemia and preparedwhich were eventually approved. A number of other orphan

interim guidelines for proper use of the drug to raise user

drugs were approved in addition to the drugs listed here.

awareness. During the annual JSIMD conference, a BH4-related

Furthermore, yet more drugs are currently being developed orCommittee Debrief Session was held to exchange information.

Table: Approved Drugs Used for Treatment of Inherited Metabolic Diseases
Drug (generic name)Indication requested to be approved

Date of approval

1

Sapropterin hydrochloride

BH4-responsive hyperphenylalaninemia(additional indication)

Jul 2008

2

Levocarnitine chloride

Carnitine deficiency (additional indication)(Additional dosage form: liquid; intravenous injection)

Mar 2011
Dec 2012

launched in the market. Development on new orphan drugs was

3

Miglustat

Niemann-Pick disease type C

Mar 2012

guardians of pediatric patients, and there were no public relief

also beginning in the US, and in hopes of making these new

4

Sodium phenylbutyrate

Urea cycle disorderSep 2012

systems for sufferers from adverse reactions to such drugs.

drugs available quickly in Japan, the public drew its attention on

5

Betaine

Homocystinuria

Jan 2014

Under these circumstances, we felt a pressing need for officiallyorphan drugs.

6

Cysteamine bitartrate

Nephropathic cystinosis

Jul 2014

7

Nitisinone

Tyrosinemia type 1

Dec 2014

Carglumic acid

NAGS deficiency, isovaleric acidemia,
methylmalonic acidemia, propionic acidemia

Sep 2016

approved drugs.

8

Development at a Standstill for
Unapproved Drugs
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) convened “Review conference of Unapproved
Drugs Use Issue” in 2005 to resolve the issue of unapproved drugs. The committee also started toinvestigate drugs that should have begun development earlier in Japan. The JSIMD Pharmaceutical
Affairs Committee conducted a questionnaire survey on the members of JSIMD and submitted alist of drugs and a request to the MHLW, in order to address the necessity of prompt developmentof unapproved drugs. The MHLW then had to wait for pharmaceutical companies to take theresults of the Special Committee’s investigations and develop the drugs needed by request from
JSIMD. Despite these activities, few pharmaceutical companies began the development of thesedrugs, and the issue of unapproved drugs remained unaddressed for several years.
Under such circumstances, JSIMD made efforts to proceed with development plans by performing
multicenter clinical studies to confirm the efficacy and safety of some drugs.

BH4: tetrahydrobiopterin, NAGS: N-acetylglutamate synthetase

Various Activities of JSIMD to Support Patients with Rare Diseases
Making unapproved orphan drugs available in Japan is one oftreatment before symptoms progress, so early detection of a

the JSIMD’s roles. Our other roles include the establishment ofdisease has become increasingly important. JSIMD has reported

diagnostic criteria for designated intractable diseases andthe results of studies on new target diseases for mass newborn

treatment guidelines for standard treatment of patients withscreenings to enhance early detection/diagnosis of treatablesuch diseases. JSIMD submits petitions to designate certain

diseases.

diseases as intractable diseases so that affected patients canHere, I have talked mainly about the initiatives by the JSIMD

receive public assistance. JSIMD also works on the stable supply

Pharmaceutical Affairs Committee regarding the issues ofof special milk formulas that are indispensable for treatment.

unapproved drugs and off-label drugs as well as the backgroundIn recent years, one novel drug after another for inheritedof their development. I hope that this was of help in the futuremetabolic diseases have been developed. It is desirable to startdevelopment of orphan drugs.

Contract Formulation Development and Manufacturing Services
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Hideki Murakami
Executive Officer and Business
Development Director
CMIC CMO Co., Ltd.

Photo: Katsumi Kurihara

In terms of food, CDMO employees are“master chefs” who come up with newrecipes by thinking about ingredients andpreparation methods!

Features of the CDMO business related toformulation development
Developments ranging from the discovery of pharmaceuticalseeds to the manufacturing and marketing of products are now
quickly growing in demand at more advanced levels. Following
this, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly outsourced
many development processes. Among these, CDMO is
responsible for formulation development and productmanufacturing.
To accelerate launch pharmaceutical products, though it isimportant to design substances discovered as seeds into
formulations, conduct clinical trials, and proceed smoothly tomass production, we also assist in achieving rapid
development by taking responsibility for the designing andmanufacturing of new clinical drugs used in clinical trials. Thisfeature sets us apart from conventional CMO services that only
manufacture, and also demonstrates a strength of CMIC Group,
which runs clinical development operations in addition to
CDMO.

to
w e…
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CMIC Group has 4 plants in Japan and 2 plants overseas; it
can produce virtually any type of form for solid agents,
semi-solid agents, and injections. Furthermore, its
employees possess sophisticated techniques, knowledge,
and sound ethical standards; they are devoted to
manufacturing products of exceptional quality.
Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Development Center in
Shizuoka can handle processes leading to formulation,
including formulation design, scaling up, and stability
confirmation in order to manufacture a diverse array ofinvestigational drugs.
Thus, CMIC Group is one of very few CDMO companies thatcan develop formulations and manufacture investigational
drugs as well as commercial products.

Hmm

Hideki Murakami
Director of Business
Development
CMIC CMO Co., Ltd.
Ph.D., Pharmacology
Master of Business
Administration

featu

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Pharmaceuticalproduction compatible
with almost all types offorms

How can we makethe drug easier
to take?

Six manufacturing locationsin Japan and abroad + thePharmaceutical
Development Center

…
…

Hmm

How can we makethe drug easier
to manage?

Can provide one-stop service,
ranging from formulation
planning to investigational drug
production and commercial
production

I didn’t know
about thesedifferences!

Meanwhile, CMO is acontract manufacturingservice; it is great at
cooking according to
the recipe!

U.S. plant

Cranbury, NJ
No. of employees: 66
Kaiwo Maru

Likes to cook
(His skills are semi-pro
level!)

Production Building No. 2
Can accommodate
high-concentrate alcohol
drugs

Tablets

Imizu, Toyama

Toyama plant

Ointments
CreamsGels

External-use
Liquids

Suppositories

Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
No. of employees: 43

Hachimantai, Iwate

Nishine plant

Pharmaceutical
Development
CenterOintments
Creams
Gels

History of CMIC’s
pharmaceuticalmanufacturing

Tablets

Shimada, Shizuoka
Ashikaga, Tochigi

Mount Fuji and tea
plantation

Reviews formulation
Production of
investigational drugs

April 2005

Powders
GranulesAccommodates
granulation using organic
solvents.

No. of employees: 219

Korea plant

CapsulesJapanese serow

No. of employees: 180

To describe this in terms of cooking, CMO is a chef that cooks
by following recipes, while CDMO is a “master chef” who comesup with new recipes and cooks.

6 plants in Japan and abroad capable of producing abroad variety of formulations

Creativity informulation
developmentionulat entsmr
Fo lopm byendev ken o ers
ta astm

service.

Three

Ashikaga plant

Shimada, Shizuoka

CapsulesPowders
GranulesNew injection formulationbuilding started operation in
December 2018

No. of employees: 297

Shizuoka plant
Tablets

August 2005

Started operations
Complete contract services deregulated for
production of pharmaceuticals by the Revised in Korea.
Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (Japan).

CapsulesPowders
GranulesContract
packagingContract
packaging

No. of employees: 402

Japanese red
pine

Vials

Ampules

Contract
packaging

Tablets

Wisteria

Powders
GranulesSeptember 2006

December 2007

April 2010

April 2012

April 2014

June 2019

Started operationsin Japan.
Toyama plant

Started operationsin the U.S.

Shizuoka plant

Pharmaceutical
Development
CenterAshikaga plant

Nishine plant

CMIC selected for “This is MECENAT 2019” certification
Signed a joint research agreement with Keio University:
Will work to improve well-being (health and happiness) andpromote work style reforms

Graduate School of System
Design and Management
Keio University

Research
contents

Improve user’s well-being by
utilizing the PHR (Personal Health
Record) system “harmo”

Develop a well-being educational
program that promotes work
style reform

CMIC Holdings entered into a joint research agreement with Keio University effective November 13, 2019 to improve well-being(health and happiness) and to promote work style reform. In this joint research, CMIC Group, which strives to improve each person’shealth value through its healthcare business, will engage in research and development by collaborating with an academic institution,
namely Keio University on this project. The research team is led by Professor Takashi Maeno of the Graduate School of System Designand Management, Keio University, who jointly serves as Director of the Keio University Wellbeing Research Center. He conducts
various studies on happiness.*

The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection International
Children’s Drawing Contest, run by the CMIC Group as oneof its social contribution initiatives, was certified as “This is
MECENAT 2019” by the Association for Corporate Support of
the Arts.
The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection International
Children’s Drawing Contest is the only international drawing
competition in the world for children approved by the Keith
Haring Foundation; it passes down Keith Haring’s devotion topromoting hope for the future, love, and peace to children.
The contest is held annually and co-hosted by the Nakamura
Keith Haring Collection and CMIC Group.
Through these activities, CMIC group provides opportunities
for children to understand different races, religions, cultures,and environments in the world in order to strive for a global
society with liberty and to broadly contribute toward thebetterment of society.

* Studies to research the “mechanism of happiness” in humans using psychology, statistics, and scientific approaches

Presented the CMIC Awardat the 33rd JapaneseSociety for AIDS Research
Conference

As a company that excels inpromoting women, CMIC
has achieved the highest
L-Boshi Certification
CMIC Co., Ltd. received the
L-Boshi Certification, with thehighest level of the three-point,
from the Ministry of Health,Labour, and Welfare for all fiveevaluation items: “hiring”“continued employment,” “working
hours,” “managerial position ratio,”and “diverse career paths.”

CMIC presented the CMIC Award at the 33rd
Japanese Society for AIDS Research Conference
and General Meeting held from November 27 at
Kumamoto-jo Hall to Dr. Tetsuro Matano,
Director of the National Institute of Infectious
Diseases, AIDS Research Center, for hisachievements in HIV-related research.
The CMIC Award is presented annually to amember of the Japanese Society for AIDS Research(No. of members: approx. 2,000) who has
contributed to the academic society’s advancement
through his or her achievements related to HIV
and achieved original, remarkable results. The
award was presented to the 16th recipient this year.

In addition to the company’s unique systems for childcare
leave that incorporate flex-time, telework, shortened work
hours, and care leave, CMIC has been developing a flexible,
adaptable system to make workplaces more welcoming for
employees with various backgrounds, such as offering theoption of limiting field work for employees before and aftermaternity leave and childcare leave to areas close to theirhomes.
CMIC also works to build an environment in which all
employees, including men and women, can demonstrate
their capabilities to the fullest by offering childcare leave formale employees and nursing leave.

RDD : Rare Disease Day
CMIC sponsors RDD, Rare Disease Day 2020
Have you heard of Rare Disease Day (RDD)? Held on the last day of February each year, RDD isobserved to improve the quality of life for patients with rare and refractory diseases. CMIC Group
has taken part in this day since 2017. Through RDD events intended to deepen understanding ofrare and refractory diseases among as many people as possible, CMIC, with the hope of serving as abridge between patients and society, will continue to support this day so that such diseases become
better recognized by medical professionals and society as a whole.

A new company to strengthen
CMIC’s healthcare business
CMIC Healthcare Institute Co., Ltd.
SMO
(Site Support Institute)

To merge
January 2020

Healthcare Business(CMIC Healthcare)

In January 2020, Site Support Institute Co.,
Ltd. and CMIC Healthcare Co., Ltd. will merge
to start anew as CMIC Healthcare Institute. By
joining hands, SSI’s various insights andknowhow accumulated through its SMO
business and CMIC Healthcare’s data on
disease prevention and health as well as IT willsynergize, setting it apart from the rest inorder to accelerate the development of CMICGroup’s healthcare business.

For the details of these news releases, visit CMIC Group’s website at: