ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU has formed a capital and business alliance with SIMPLEX QUANTUM Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Ryu Saito, CEO; hereinafter “SIMPLEX QUANTUM”), a developer of NIHA-HF　(Neural Intelligent Heart Analyzer), AI-based stand-alone software for heart failure detection based on ECG (electrocardiogram) datasets.

Heart failure is the symptom/disease that prevents the heart from pumping sufficient blood, leading to the inability of keeping necessary volume of blood circulation. In Japan, the number of heart failure patients has recently increased with societal aging. Today, there are about 1.2 million individuals affected by the disease in Japan. The number of patients is estimated to reach around 1.3 million in 2030. ^*1
Diagnosis of heart failure requires comprehensive judgement including patient interview, auscultation, chest X-ray, ECG, and blood test. Early symptoms of heart failure are generally vague. Therefore, such symptoms are often ignored until they become severe.

SIMPLEX QUANTUM develops AI software using biological information for medical and healthcare areas. After commencing a joint research project with the University of Tokyo Hospital in January 2020, SIMPLEX QUANTUM has developed an AI that can not only classify ECG data obtained from approximately 600,000 cases, but also detect heart failure based on the ECG data. The AI is highly precise, and SIMPLEX QUANTUM is planning to further develop the AI software as a tool for diagnostic aid. Moreover, SIMPLEX QUANTUM is constructing a system that can encourage users to seek medical advice if worsening of heart failure is detected in daily life through linkage of NIHA-HF and wearable devices.

ITOCHU will support the expansion of NIHA-HF as well as the related collaboration by leveraging medical and healthcare-related networks inside and outside the group through this capital and business alliance with SIMPLEX QUANTUM.

One of the basic policies of ITOCHU’s medium-term management plan is realizing business transformation by shifting to a market-oriented perspective, and this effort is in line with this policy.
ITOCHU will continue to position the medical and healthcare fields as a priority area, and will plan and develop new services that meet the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and medical institutions and actively develop its business to contribute to a society with better provision of healthcare.