Eisai: Brain Performance (Brain-Health) Self-Check Tool "NouKNOW" to be Used in Beauty Salons

TOKYO, June 4, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that the digital tool for self-assessment of brain performance (brain health) "NouKNOWTM" (pronounced "NOH-NOH", non- medical device), which Eisai has launched in Japan, is to be expanded in the fixed-rate membership beauty salon "Attina", which is operated by Youforio Co., Ltd.

Image of the results screen (Japanese)

In recent years, various research has demonstrated the possibility that a decline in brain health may be mitigated through readjustments to lifestyles such as regular exercise and a well-balanced diet. However, according to a survey conducted by Eisai, few people correctly understand the importance of or habitually perform such preventive actions and assessments of cognitive function; this indicates disparities ("chasms") that exist for the incorporation of such habits into daily lifestyle.

Eisai is engaged in efforts for the habituation of self-check and prevention activities for maintenance and improvement of brain health through "NouKNOW" in order to overcome chasms and intends to build a wide range of places in which regular brain performance checks are possible. It can be expected that the use of this tool to perform periodic self-assessments about brain performance among the generation currently in their prime working years will create an opportunity for reconsideration of daily lifestyle, greater preventive measures, and consultation with healthcare professionals and others. Eisai considers beauty salons to be one of the very effective places (health bases) for regular brain performance checks with "NouKNOW", as post-check follow-up is possible based on existing trust relationships with customers and regular visits are predictable.

Seiji Okubo, President of Youforio, said "We believe that 'beauty and health' are essential for realizing our management philosophy of 'people becoming lively through beauty.' Eisai's daily efforts as a pharmaceutical company towards extending a healthy life expectancy of the population resonated with us, and we have decided to work together to realize the conversion of beauty salons into health bases. Through performing brain performance checks in beauty salons, we aim to extend healthy life expectancy, and establish the beauty salon of a new era as a place where one may attain not only beauty but also health."

Based on the concept of 'conversion of beauty salons to health bases', in addition to the offering of beauty salons as places for regular brain performance checks Eisai aims to continue the expansion of "NouKNOW" to health checkups conducted by municipalities and corporations, as well as a broad range of customer contact points including care facilities and fitness clubs while planning the habituation of cognitive function checks in daily life.
Eisai aims to construct a dementia ecosystem platform for connecting everyday life and healthcare, and thus realize innovation that changes society.

About "NouKNOWTM"

Name: "NouKNOW" (pronounced "NOH-NOH"); "NouKNOW" is not a medical device.

"NouKNOW" is a cognitive function test created by Cogstate, Ltd. (Headquarters: Australia, "Cogstate") for which Eisai holds the rights for exclusive development and commercialization in Japan. It is conducted through a simple card test using a PC or tablet device to quantitatively measure brain performance in four tests evaluating a psychomotor function, attention, learning and memory, and working memory. This digital tool allows users to self-assess independently and in a short time frame (approx.15 minutes), enabling regular assessments in instances such as daily life and health checkups. Eisai is currently selling this tool to legal entities such as municipalities and corporations. In addition to Youforio, the usage of NouKNOW has been decided for other partners including Kajima Corporation.

For further information on "NouKNOW", please visit https://nouknow.jp (Japanese only)

About Youforio Co., Ltd.

Youforio Co., Ltd. has a management philosophy of "People becoming lively through beauty", and aims for a society in which all people may spend their lives positively by becoming beautiful and lovely. As a means of realizing such a society, Youforio operates 'Hair Salon Attina' in the Ebisu and Omotesando neighborhoods of Tokyo and is investigating new roles for its beauty salons and stylists in society.

Attina is a completely fixed-charge, 'all-inclusive salon' in which customers may use all menu options as many times as they need without concern for budget and time restrictions in order to increase the beauty of their hair and scalp health. This new model continues to demonstrate itself as an effective approach for customers, stylists, and beauty salon owners.
Youforio aims to spread this all-inclusive salon model across Japan and is currently building a platform for connecting with beauty salon owners in respective regions as well as conducting crowdfunding for support thereof.

For more information on the all-inclusive-salon Attina, please visit https://attina.net/

For more information on the crowdfunding initiative, please visit https://readyfor.jp/projects/Attina

About Eisai

Eisai Co., Ltd. defines our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products to address unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology. As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through working with key stakeholders to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries.

For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit https://www.eisai.com

Source: Eisai

Contact:

Media Inquiries:
Public Relations Department 
Eisai Co., Ltd. 
+81-(0)3-3817-5120

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