Greetings

President    NAKAMURA Yusuke

Since the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation (NIBIO) and the National Institute of Health and Nutrition (NIHN) merged in 2015 to form the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health, and Nutrition (NIBIOHN), a six-center system, which includes the Center for Drug Design Research, has been established based on the first med- to long-term plan. NIHN had been located in Tokyo, but was relocated to Kita Osaka Health and Medical Care City ("KENTO") in Osaka Prefecture, and both institutes will deepen collaboration with medical institutions and patients to develop a project to extend healthy life expectancy.

In 2024, the post-war baby boomer generation has reached the advanced age group, raising the importance of living a long life with the healthy condition. Amid this, our second 7-years med- to long-term plan started in 2022. The plan addresses various issues with an "era of 100-year lifespans". One of the keywords is "individual optimization." In the future, it will be necessary to provide optimal guidance and medical care tailored to each individual, whether it is to maintain and improve health through diet and exercise or to select treatment methods in the disease condition. We would like to further advance drug discovery and nutrition research using cutting-edge AI technology, and contribute to our society.

Based on extensive collaboration with two Osaka Prefectural Hospitals, the Osaka International Cancer Institute and the Osaka Women's and Children's Hospital, NIBIOHN has begun working with patients, medical institutions, and research institutes to make incurable disease to be curable. It is difficult for private companies to develop drugs for intractable diseases and rare diseases. Fulfilling its purpose as a national research facility under the three key words of medical infrastructure, health and nutrition, NIBIOHN has made research and development targeting these diseases as one of our priorities.

Additionally, in order to take full advantage of the benefits of integrating the two research institutes, from health maintenance to drug development, we will further focus on areas that integrate the pharmaceutical and health/nutrition fields. We are exploring new possibilities, such as in our research on nutrition, intestinal bacteria, and immunity.

We will continue to make further efforts to contribute to extending healthy longevity through the fundamental technologies for the development of innovative medicines, research on food, nutrition, and exercise, and basic research.

We would like to ask for your continued support as we move forward.