HEALTHTRENDS
IN JAPAN

The development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) ischanging medicine and healthcare globally including in Japan.
Opportunities for AI in the medical sector
The use of AI is being tested and introduced in a wide range of fields in Japan,
including in diagnosis, medical care, nursing care and preventative medicine.
Areas of emerging growth include; imaging diagnosis, treatment and surgery support,
drug development genomic medicine and dementia care. In terms of market size,
Japan medical sector is projected to be worth 15 billion yen in 2025.
Key players in image diagnostics in Japan include Olympus Corporation, Fujifilm
Corporation, Astellas Pharma, Toray Engineering, Envoy Ai, Cyberdyne and Lpixel.
Success by foreign companies in this area include Sensely, a California based start up,
which attracted investment from Sojitz. However this is a rapidly expanding sector
attracting new players both domestically and from overseas.
AI Development Market Size in the Healthcare Industry in 2025

GLOBAL

4 TRILLION YEN
15 BILLION YEN
AI-related domestic market in the medical field

Billion yen
162025:15 billion yen

1486
2016:
3.7 billion yen

4

Of note in Japan is the trend towards
compound searches using in silico
technology (computer based screening)targeting priority disease areas bypharmaceutical companies. Examplesof this include, drug design, chemicalcompound research, identification andoptimization of compounds.
In the future, it is expected thatnext-generation in silico predictive
technology, including drugrepositioning, will increase.

• The delay in the construction ofdatasets is a challenge in terms ofusing AI technology

2AI drug discovery
system

AI is currently being utilized mainly forbasic research in drug discovery that
requires a long-term investment ofover 100 billion yen.

• Japanese pharmaceutical companies
which have not undergone major
restructuring compared to the global
market are lagging behind globally interms of sales ranking and size

100

The AI market in drug discovery is
expected to grow rapidly both in Japanand globally. The global market size is
projected to grow from $259 million in2019 to $1.444 billion by 2024.

Some challenges Japan is facing in thisarea include:

Forecast

12JAPANAI in drug discovery in Japan201420152016

2017

Sales support AI systemfor pharmaceuticalcompanies

2018

2019

2020

2025

Diagnosis support system/ Similar recommendation
search system

Source: Materials on AI Development Acceleration Consortium for Healthcare, Report Linker, Fuji Keizai Co., Ltd.

• Currently, the majority of processes
for utilizing AI are mainly the basic
research processes – the technology
is not being optimized.

In order to support drug discovery in Japan more effectively a consortium for the life sciences/medical field has been launched byleading pharmaceutical, IT companies and academia. The consortium known as Life Intelligence Consortium (LInC) aims to leveragesynergies to promote the health care field and related industries based on the AI strategy.
Life Intelligence Consortium (LInC)

INITIATIVE OVERVIEW
LInC provides a place to match and collaborate withpeople with different specialties such as pharmaceuticalcompanies, IT companies, and academia

MEMBER (ABSTRACT)

Common domains in LInC

Pharmaceutical companies
EA Pharma • Eisai •Shionogi & Co. •Daiichi Sankyo
Takeda Pharmaceutical •CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL

ResearchThemesettings
Information
gathering

IT companies
NEC • Intel • Hitachi •ExaWizards • Lpixel etc.

AI designModelbuilding

KEY THEMES FROM DRUGDISCOVERY INCLUDE:
Target molecule search

Domains by company

Drug repositioning
PublicDBIn-houseDB

Originalproject

Extracting unmet
medical needs

RECENT ACTIVITIES IN DRUGDISCOVERY HAVE INCLUDED:

Academia
Osaka University • Instituteof Medical Science, The
University of Tokyo • Tokyo
Institute of Technology

Commonmodel

Model
improvement

Original
model

Development of a machinelearning model for
improving the accuracyof virtual screening

Secretariat
Support and advice for the entire activity

Building a prediction
system for protein andcompound activity patterns
for drug repositioning

Development of relevant fields and human resource
development
Economic promotion
Improve public health

Shortening the R & D
period and reduce costs
via drug repositioning

Health Tech opportunities in Japan

Health data analysis

As Japan becomes a ”super-aged society” in 2025 (one in three people will be 65 years
old or older), increasing social security costs, shortage of medical staff and decline in
the workforce will be issues. Therefore, Japan will become increasingly dependent on
using Health Tech (health x technology), to provide health support to individuals.

Medical treatment using data
analysis has been developing
throughout the world, but Japanis currently one step behind in thephase of accumulating medical data.
Reinventing medical care delivery
and improving treatment quality is akey priority.

The Health Tech market size in Japan is expected to grow significantly from651.5 billion yen (as of 2015) to 996.5 billion yen (as of 2025). In particular,
prevention/medical care/treatment segments are expected to be a significant market.
Health Tech market size and trend/forecast of medical and nursing care costs in Japan
Billion yenTrillion yen

1200

80

Estimation

70100060800506004030400202000102015

2016

Prevention

2017

2018

2019

2020

Diagnosis/Treatment

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

0Prognosis

Medical and nursing care cost
Source: Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, ”Future Outlook forSocial Security in 2040”. Fuji Keizai ”Health Tech / Health Solution-related Domestic Market” ”Medical Information System
Domestic Market” ”Nursing / Welfare-related Products / Service Market”

In the future, it is expected that
research and development will
progress toward a comprehensive
medical platform personalized fromprevention to prognosis.
Specific areas of health care in
Japan where there are opportunities
for market growth include;
health data analysis; electronic
medical records; genomicanalysis; telemedicine and nursing
care systems.
Japan has a strong presence in thefield of assistive robots to service
their rapidly aging population, butthere is still considerable potential
for foreign companies in fields
where Japan lags behind the world.

Genome analysis

Telemedicine

The Japan Genomic Medicine
Program, initiated by the Japan
Medical and Research Development
Agency (AMED) in 2015, includes
several programs: an Integrated
Database of Clinical and GenomicInformation, the Promotion of GenomeMedicine, a BioBank Japan Project for
Genomic and Clinical Research, anda Tohoku Medical Megabank Project.
The intent is to share the allele
frequencies and disease variations ofthe Japanese population.

Telemedicine has been covered by
Japanese insurance since 2018, but
the incentive to promote telemedicine isweaker than that of other countries due
to free access to medical institutions.
There is a strong cultural bias towards
face to face consultation, but theservicing rural and remote areas bydoctors is increasingly difficult so there
is an urgent need to increase the uptakeof telemedicine.

In recent years, this sector has
attracted significant capital and theinterest of corporation with diverse
interests including Yahoo! and DeNA
who expanded their business to thismarket. In addition, services basedon genetic information have started
to emerge.

Nursing care systems
Japan has been struggling with an acuteshortage of trained nursing staff forsome time. Resolving human resource
shortages has become an urgent issue,
and it is expected that the introductionof nursing care systems and roboticswill increase as home nursing careprogresses in the future.

Wearable devices
Analysis of real-time life logs using
wearable devices is becoming
mainstream among tech companies,
mainly GAFA, however preventive
medicine is not widely understoodor prevalent in Japan as yet.

Electronic medical records
Though cloud computing has been
allowed in the medical field since2010 and medical data management
has started, the introduction rate ofelectronic medical records has been
low and data storage has made slow
progress.
In some countries, the introduction
rate exceeds 100%, but in Japan,hospitals with less than 200 beds
have a 37% introduction rate.
Concerns have been raised over theinconsistency of standards and costs.

Health trends in Japan are changing rapidly. This is a summary of information sourced through JETRO reports. If you are interested in investing orcommencing business in Japan in this sector seek the latest updates on the trends and regulations through JETRO and original sources.
JETRO Tokyo publishes online statistics and reports on the JETRO website.
You will find a range of information on the JETRO website to assist you with setting up an office in Japan. Or if you meet the Invest Japan program
criteria, you may be eligible for consultations with industry experts.
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