ITOCHU Announces the Launch of the Marketing Support Business for Pharmaceutical Companies Using Medical Checkup Data

January 20, 2025

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it has launched the marketing support business for pharmaceutical companies using medical checkup data together with Wellness Communications Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yasuhide Matsuda, President & Representative Director; hereinafter "Wellness Communications") operating a domestic medical checkup business in Japan.

To date, pharmaceutical companies have generally depended on physicians in their marketing activities. However, the recent penetration of patient-oriented personalized medical care has stimulated the need for measures based on the perspectives of the patients, that is, the final users of pharmaceutical products, as well as the viewpoints of physicians. Flexible and efficient IT-based or digital marketing measures are in demand due to the number of opportunities for contact between physicians and patients being reduced, the restrictions on visits by medical representatives (MRs)*1 and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The marketplace of digital marketing for pharmaceutical companies is said to have room to development from its current 50 billion yen to 200-300 billion yen in the future*2.

Wellness Communications provides over 1700 companies with the Growbase cloud-based health management system that unifies management of company employee medical checkup and stress test results to enable the visualization, analysis, aggregation, and use of medical checkup and other data, supporting the management of the health of over 1.5 million employees.

ITOCHU has proposed new marketing methods for pharmaceutical companies, including the production of digital content for general consumers using VTubers*3 and supporting promotions using the medical doctor database of MRT Inc.*4, a healthcare staff agency.
Going forward, ITOCHU and Wellness Communications will support pharmaceutical companies in their flexible and efficient planning, drafting, and execution of marketing measures using employee medical checkup data. Specifically, the two companies will provide the health enhancement program for company employees. This will provide information to potential patients who pharmaceutical companies want to approach, increase their awareness of diseases and encourage them to visit medical institutions using medical checkup data stored in Growbase through agreements with the companies and health insurance societies using the system.

ITOCHU will continue to position the medical and healthcare field as a priority area, and will plan and develop new services for pharmaceutical companies with the concept of incorporating market needs into services aimed at meeting the needs of patients, medical professionals and medical institutions. ITOCHU will proactively develop businesses to contribute to the realization of the medical infrastructure needed by society.

  • *1Medical representative is a specialist in information about pharmaceutical products who handles information about quality, efficacy, safety and other characteristics of pharmaceutical products of the company they work for.
  • *2Equity Research Department, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., "Updated HealthTech Industry — Discussion of Multi-polarization of Power Relationships and Changes in the HealthTech Industry in which Consolidation and Alliance Are Increasing (provisional translation)"
  • *3Virtual entertainers posting and streaming videos featuring 2D or 3D characters (avatars) using motion capture and other techniques
  • *4ITOCHU Announces Capital and Business Tie-Up with Healthcare Platform Company MRT Inc. (announced by ITOCHU on November 14, 2024)
    https://www.itochu.co.jp/en/news/press/2024/241114_3.html

About Wellness Communications Corporation

Company name Wellness Communications Corporation
Representative Yasuhide Matsuda, President and Representative Director
Headquarters 14F, ARK Mori Building, 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Established July 3, 2006
Capital 408 million yen
URL https://wellcoms.jp/