ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it concluded a capital and business alliance agreement with MRT Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Tomonari Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer; hereinafter “MRT”), a company whose strengths are in the areas of the provision of healthcare information using digital platforms and the referral of healthcare human resources, mainly including physicians.

Demand for healthcare continues to increase in Japan where the trend of the aging of the population and the decrease of the birthrate continues. A chronic labor shortage at medical institutions is a challenge that society faces. While the reform of physicians’ workstyles^*1 increasingly requires that operations be implemented efficiently at clinical sites, healthcare professionals are oriented more toward an efficient and comprehensive approach to information collection using IT and other digital technologies. Particularly, in the provision of information about pharmaceutical products to physicians, face-to-face sales activities by pharmaceutical companies’ medical representatives (MR)^*2 have been the mainstream. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more efficient means of communication using digital tools have been drawing attention.

MRT uses a healthcare personnel platform enrolling about 350 thousand healthcare professionals^*3 to refer these professionals to medical institutions, municipal governments and companies. In particular, MRT matches more than 200 thousand physicians with employment opportunities annually. It has matched a cumulative total of more than 2 million physicians with employment opportunities, this track record is the highest in Japan.^*4 Also, the company leverages its experience in online diagnostic support via Door., a healthcare DX platform, in an effort to solve healthcare challenges in cooperation with municipal governments and other companies. In recent years, MRT has also put effort into the pharmaceutical marketing business, aiming to diversify its businesses in the medical and healthcare domain.

ITOCHU is committed to supporting pharmaceutical companies' marketing activities. Examples include a capital and business alliance with Docquity,^*5 a company that operates Southeast Asia’s largest social media business for healthcare professionals, and the co-production of video content for physicians with ANYCOLOR^*6 which operates a VTuber business. In September 2024, ITOCHU and MRT agreed on the transfer of some shares of Docquity’s stock held by ITOCHU to MRT. Currently, MRT is expanding its healthcare personnel referral business in Southeast Asia. In Japan, the three companies provide tools for summarizing papers and supporting research to subscribers within the MRT Group using Docquity’s training content (learning and healthcare news) and Generative AI.

After the alliance, ITOCHU will welcome MRT as a strategic partner and strengthen its marketing support business for domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, in partnership with ITOCHU’s digital business group,^*7 we will support the realization of DX using IT and other digital technologies in the healthcare domain, mainly supporting medical institutions.

ITOCHU provides services for pharmaceutical companies, primarily through its 100% subsidiary A2 Healthcare Corp., which operates a CRO business,*8 and BELLSYSTEM24 HOLDINGS, INC., an equity-method affiliate engaged in BPO business.
Going forward, ITOCHU will promote the IT solutions business in the healthcare domain to contribute to the realization of a sustainable digital society based on a market-oriented perspective to solving the issues faced by the market and our customers.