Otsuka Signs Three-Year Collaboration with Holmusk to Enhance Digital Health and Data Analytics for Global Behavioral Health Programs

PRINCETON, N.J., July 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. ("Otsuka"), announces today that it has entered a three-year collaboration with Holmusk Inc. ("Holmusk"), a global data science and digital health company building the world's largest real-world evidence (RWE) platform for behavioral health.

Together, Otsuka and Holmusk will work to drive a deeper understanding of unmet patient needs and real-world outcomes by employing proprietary analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) on multiple real-world data sources. These insights can have application across Otsuka's portfolio and have the potential to improve patient lives. The new collaboration, worth up to US$4 million annually, marks an expansion of the existing relationship that started with an exploration of real-world outcomes in behavioral health in 2020.

"Holmusk is a global leader in real-world evidence and owns distinctive data assets for behavioral health. This collaboration strengthens Otsuka's capabilities in serving people living with complex, chronic diseases," said Christoph Koenen, MD, executive vice president, and chief medical officer, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. "This is the next step in Otsuka's journey to utilize real-world evidence to improve clinical development with the goal of achieving better patient outcomes. We look forward to working together."

"We're thrilled to collaborate with Otsuka," said Nawal Roy, Holmusk founder and CEO. "Their commitment and passion to help patients suffering from poor behavioral health aligns with our mission. The expertise they provide to guide these efforts ensure we are targeting the right questions and allow us to get the most from our digital and analytics assets."

As part of the collaboration, Otsuka's affiliate, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe Limited ("OPEL"), transferred its Otsuka Health Solutions (OHS) digital assets based in the U.K. to Holmusk. OHS improves mental health services delivery through predictive analytics.

"Otsuka remains committed to supporting mental health and this collaboration ensures we are invested in the future success of Holmusk, which will continue to enhance delivery of care with providers in the UK," said Sahil Kirpekar, M.D., head of Business Development at Otsuka. Fraser Finance acted as an advisor to Otsuka to support the transfer of the Otsuka Healthcare Solutions assets in the UK.

About Otsuka

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a global healthcare company with the corporate philosophy: "Otsuka–people creating new products for better health worldwide." Otsuka researches, develops, manufactures, and markets innovative products, with a focus on pharmaceutical products to meet unmet medical needs and nutraceutical products for the maintenance of everyday health.

In pharmaceuticals, Otsuka is a leader in the challenging areas of mental, renal and cardiovascular health and has additional research programs in oncology and on several under-addressed diseases including tuberculosis, a significant global public health issue. These commitments illustrate how Otsuka is a "big venture" company at heart, applying a youthful spirit of creativity in everything it does.

Otsuka established a presence in the U.S. in 1973 and today its U.S. affiliates include Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. (OPDC) and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI). These two companies' 1,700 employees in the U.S. develop and commercialize medicines in the areas of mental health, nephrology, and cardiology, using cutting-edge technology to address unmet healthcare needs.

OPDC and OAPI are indirect subsidiaries of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Otsuka group of companies employed 47,000 people worldwide and had consolidated sales of approximately USD 13.3 billion in 2020.

All Otsuka stories start by taking the road less traveled. Learn more about Otsuka in the U.S. at www.otsuka-us.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @OtsukaUS. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.'s global website is accessible at www.otsuka.co.jp/en/.

About Holmusk

Holmusk is on a mission to reinvent behavioral health and transform lives with Real-World Evidence and digital innovation. Headquartered in Singapore and New York, Holmusk generates evidence and builds digital solutions to advance behavioral health research, innovation, and care.

NeuroBlu, Holmusk's flagship product, synthesizes Real-World Data (RWD) with seamless analytic tools, enabling users to create actionable insights that drive behavioral health transformation. NeuroBlu is powered by an industry-leading and continually growing behavioral health clinical dataset, with over 20 years of data on 560,000+ patients and 20+ million encounters. Holmusk uses advanced proprietary analytics to enrich the data, with Natural Language Processing and predictive disease models designed specifically for behavioral health. Holmusk augments its data and analytic offerings with powerful digital solutions that enhance patient engagement, support disease self-management, and capture patient-reported outcomes to guide clinical decisions and analytics. For more information, please visit www.holmusk.com.