ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it will take over, by means of the transfer of the business, the operations of PharField Corporation (headquartered in Koto-ku, Tokyo; Tsukasa Yamaguchi, President and CEO; hereinafter "PharField"), undertakes the post-marketing surveillance (PMS) of pharmaceuticals, through A2 Healthcare Corporation (headquartered in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Hitoshi Kamiya, President and CEO; hereinafter "A2 Healthcare"), which is ITOCHU's wholly owned subsidiary (hereinafter the "Business Take Over").^*1 This will reinforce the structure of ITOCHU's entrusted businesses in post-marketing drug development.

The post-marketing drug development business involves the continuing improvement of pharmaceuticals even after they are launched onto the market with the goal of realizing safer, more effective medical care. Recently in the business it has been increasingly important for patients, healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies to collaboratively develop pharmaceuticals. Continuously gathering and analyzing data from a wide range of patients on how they use our post-launch pharmaceutical products, which have been shown to be effective and safe in clinical trials, clarifies the risks which are hard to understand at the time the product is approved and more proper ways of using the product. This leads to the increased sophistication of the management of pharmaceutical product lifecycles.^*2

PharField was established through a company split to take over the PMS businesses of MEDICEO CORPORATION, EVERLTH Co., Ltd. and ATOL CO., LTD., which were wholly owned subsidiaries of MEDIPAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Shuichi Watanabe, President and CEO). It is a contract research organization (CRO) that undertakes the entire process from supporting clinical trials of pharmaceutical products to their post-marketing surveillance. As a CRO with strengths in PMS, PharField has supported post-marketing drug development businesses in many different areas of disease, leveraging its specialized knowledge and nationwide information gathering system.

ITOCHU supports domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies in the development of pharmaceutical products, centering on A2 Healthcare, a CRO that has been entrusted with a large number of sponsor- and investigator-initiated clinical trials in various areas of disease. A2 Healthcare established an organization dedicated to extensively gathering post-marketing drug development evidence in April 2025 and integrated businesses related to clinical research, PMS and Real-World Data (RWD).^*3 It is strengthening its business of supporting post-marketing drug development. Through the Business Take Over, we will continue to improve the functions of the business to gather information about the performance of use of pharmaceuticals, the foundation of the post-marketing drug development business, and we will continue to be committed to the maximization of the value of post-launch pharmaceuticals and the realization of patient-centric medical care.

ITOCHU has established its The Brand-New Deal: Profit Opportunities are Shifting Downstream management policy and is developing its business areas by tracking the needs of sellers, buyers and consumers as they diversify along with the changes in society and by pioneering and transforming its businesses, beginning with its downstream operations. Through this initiative, ITOCHU will promote the proper use of pharmaceutical products and contribute to a society where better medical care is provided.