NEW NEURII RESEARCH COLLABORATION BETWEEN EISAI, GATES VENTURES,HEALTH DATA RESEARCH UK, LIFEARC AND THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH TO
DEVELOP DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR DEMENTIA IS ANNOUNCED•New research collaboration brings together world-leading institutions’ collective expertise intherapeutics, technology, health data, technology commercialisation and advanced analytics/data
science in neurology.

•Two-year pilot provides a launch pad for translating scientific prototypes into practical solutions
that demonstrate real-world impact.

•NEURii collaboration builds on Eisai’s extensive experience in delivering innovative treatments
in neurology and supports ongoing contributions to the global digital health ecosystem.

TOKYO, HATFIELD, SEATTLE, LONDON, and EDINBURGH, 29 June, 2023 – Eisai, Gates Ventures,Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), LifeArc and The University of Edinburgh announced today a new
two-year collaborative research agreement. The collaboration, named NEURii is a unique pioneering
partnership that creates a powerhouse collaboration of collective expertise in therapeutics, technology
development and commercialization, health data management and advanced analytics/data science topredict, protect and promote brain health.
NEURii will focus its initial efforts to develop data and digital solutions to complement approved
treatment options for patients and solve issues related to the prediction, prevention, management, andtreatment of dementia related disorders.
This groundbreaking collaboration will use high-quality individual data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), andMachine Learning (ML) to deliver patient-focused digital health solutions by developing initial pilot
projects originated in highly recognized UK academic centres. These projects have been selected on
the basis of their potential to make a meaningful difference to patients’ lives while maintaining data
security and public trust. By combining diverse digital biomarkers that can be acquired non-invasively
in real world clinical and non-clinical settings (e.g., speech from conversation) with the high-quality andabundant medical data accumulated in the UK, and analyzing them with tailored AI algorithms, NEURii
will create innovative digital solutions. These will be deployed in the detection, monitoring and treatment
of dementia patients in order to improve their lives as well as minimizing the impact of the disease
burden on their carers and families.
This initial two-year pilot establishes a first-in-class launch pad underpinned by an innovative businessmodel and scalable prototype for translating scientific prototypes that will enhance and improve publichealth demonstrating real world impact. It is envisaged that NEURii partners will explore further
opportunities to scale up the program developing digital health solutions worldwide.
Dr. Teiji Kimura, Ph.D., Academia and Industry Alliance Officer, Deep Human Biology Learning (DHBL)
Office of Eisai, commented, “Dementia is one of the major social and medical issues in an aging society,and Eisai's mission is to contribute to solving these issues. We aim to create new digital solutions thatwill contribute to solving the challenges of dementia by combining the UK's leadership in this field with
our experience and track record of continuously creating innovative treatments in the field of dementia
whilst staying true to our human health care concept of giving first thought to patients and the people inthe daily living domain.”
It is estimated that more than 55 million are currently living with dementia in the world, and nearly onemillion people in the UK, and this number is expected to grow rapidly.1,2 As well as having a significant
impact on the lives of patients and those who care for them (52% of the UK public knows someone who
has been diagnosed with a form of dementia), these conditions place significant pressure on health and1

social care systems. Providing data-driven solutions that complement existing treatments could help toimprove earlier detection and diagnosis, evidence-based treatment decision-making, monitoring ofdisease progression and maintenance of quality of life.
“AI and other advanced technologies are beginning to play a powerful role in medical research,” said
Dr. Niranjan Bose, Managing Director of Health & Life Sciences at Gates Ventures. “I’m excited about
how the NEURii collaboration will apply these tools to diagnostics research and drug discovery, andcontribute to breakthroughs that can improve life for millions of people suffering with dementia anddementia-related illnesses.”“Identifying ways to prevent dementia and neurodegenerative disease is a key part of our multi-millionpound neurodegeneration program’ said Paul Wright, MND Translational Challenge Lead at LifeArc“‘This collaboration is one of many new innovative projects we are involved in to improve the diagnosisof dementia and a positive step towards predicting those who may develop the disease.”
The UK is a leader in digital technology investment and research across areas such as genomics, healthdata science, AI and ML, with rich and diverse health-related data. NEURii’s model will enable theidentification of pioneering data and digital science, the mentoring of talented scientists and thetranslation of health prototypes into practical and accessible products. By bringing together theexpertise and capabilities of the NEURii collaborators, it is hoped that the novel approach will provide
an exciting launch-pad for new transformational digital products that can contribute to solving theongoing challenges of dementia and neurodegenerative conditions.
Professor Andrew Morris, Director of HDR UK, said: “Almost one million people in the UK are living withdementia. This new public-private partnership aims to gain a deeper understanding of the disease
through trustworthy use of large datasets of anonymised health data in secure environments. We willtake forward a set of pilot projects and engage with the public. Our aim is to produce new data-driven
products that will benefit patients and their families in detecting dementia, predicting its progress andbetter managing the disease.”
NEURii academic lead Professor Siddharthan Chandran, of the University of Edinburgh, said: “TheUniversity of Edinburgh is delighted to be part of this ambitious cross-sector digital partnership that has,as an explicit goal, the creation of low cost and globally scalable digital tools to predict and monitor
dementia.”
Outputs from the NEURii collaboration will be shared quarterly internally and released externally whenappropriate.
1

World Health Organization. Fact sheets, Dementia
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia
2 Alzheimer’s Research UK. Dementia Statistics Hub. Number of people in the UK. 2022. Available at:https://dementiastatistics.org/about-dementia/prevalence-and-incidence/

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eisai Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Department+81-(0)3-3817-5120
Eisai Europe, Ltd.
Bily Kuo
Director, Communications EMEA
emea-comms@eisai.net+44 (0) 7739 600 678
For queries relating to any of the signing partners: UoE, Gates Ventures, LifeArc and HDRUKUniversity of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Innovations
Megan Welford

2Communications Manager
Megan.welford@ei.ed.ac.uk+44 07721 120217[Notes to editors]
1. About NEURii
NEURii is a collaborative venture formed by Eisai, Gates Ventures, HDR UK, LifeArc and The
University of Edinburgh. The partnership’s aim is to translate real-world data and digital science intosolutions and products that predict, prevent and manage the treatment of dementia to help people
live longer and better lives worldwide NEURii will operate within a strict governance framework andFAIR data principles (data which meet principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, andreusability).
2. About Eisai
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 humanhealth 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 Neurologyand Oncology.
In addition, our continued commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs),
which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), isdemonstrated by our work 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 Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
For more information about Eisai in the EMEA region, please visit www.eisai.eu.
3. About Gates Ventures
Gates Ventures is the private office of Bill Gates. Gates Ventures' programmatic investments in theAlzheimer’s field include the AD Diagnostics Accelerator, Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), AD Data
Initiative and the European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases (EPND).
4. About Health Data Research UK
Health Data Research UK is the national institute for health data with a mission to unite the UK’s
health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives. It is a charity funded by UK Researchand Innovation, the Department of Health and Social Care in England and equivalents in Northern
Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and leading medical research charities.
E: enquiries@hdruk.ac.uk
W: www.hdruk.org
5. About LifeArc
LifeArc is a self-funded, non-profit medical research organisation. We take science ideas out of thelab and help turn them into medical breakthroughs that can be life-changing for patients. We havebeen doing this for more than 25 years and our work has resulted in five licensed medicines and adiagnostic for antibiotic resistance.
Our teams are experts in drug and diagnostics discovery, technology transfer, and intellectualproperty. Our work is in translational science – bridging the gap between academic research and3

clinical development, providing funding, research and expert knowledge, all with a clear andunwavering commitment to having a positive impact on patient lives.
LifeArc is committed to spending £1.3 billion by 2030 in areas of high unmet medical need.
www.lifearc.org
6. About the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh is a global university, rooted in Scotland. We are globally recognisedfor our research, development and innovation and we have provided world-class teaching to ourstudents for more than 425 years. We are the largest university in Scotland, with more than 41,000
students and 15,000 staff. We are a founding member of the UK’s Russell Group of leading research
universities and a member of the League of European Research Universities. Edinburgh Innovations
is the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service. We bring University of Edinburgh
research to industry, working to identify ideas with value, and facilitating the process of bringing themto life in real-world applications. We make ideas work for a better world.
Find out more on our website

4