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Press release
Astellas and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Enter into Agreement to Co-Develop and Co-Commercialize Smartphone Exercise Support Application
Apr 6, 2020
- Medical and health research using application for smartphone and other devices is conducted, and development of application for pilot marketing will begin in FY2020 -

TOKYO , April 6, 2020  - Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., “Astellas”) and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. (President and CEO: Yasuo Miyakawa, “BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment”) today announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement to co-develop an exercise support application for smartphones and other devices to support regular exercise, through the provision of scientifically evidenced exercise programs with game elements, for planned pilot marketing.

In October 2018, Astellas and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment entered into an agreement and have co-developed an exercise support application for the purposes of medical and health research . Under the terms of the newly executed agreement, the two companies will advance co-development of the application for pilot marketing etc. as follows, based upon the results obtained thus far.

Implementation of medical and health research by Astellas:

  • Astellas is conducting a medical and health research using the application co-developed by the two companies for medical and health research in accodance with the Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects. This medical and health research will evaluate the effect of an excercise program that combines aerobic and resistance exercises (repetitive exercises that exert resistance on target muscles) provided by the application on an individual's body by assessing indicators such as changes in visceral fat area.

Co-development of application for pilot marketing:

  • The two companies will co-develop the application for planned pilot marketing. The objective of the co-development is to build upon the application used for the above medical and health research by improving “user experience” and “user interface” to seek continuity and habituation of exercises so that users will personally take interest and start using the application and continue the exercises. This will be accomplished through leveraging game development know-how by combining fun and exercise.

Astellas and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment will decide whether they start the pilot marketing of the application based on the results of the scientific evaluation of the exercise programs in the above-mentioned medical and health research.

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