Press release
28 October 2021 at 9:00 (EEST)

Nightingale Health Plc's Japanese subsidiary Nightingale Health Japan KK (together "Nightingale") announces a long-term collaboration with BioBank Japan, one of the largest disease biobanks in the world with more than 200 000 participants nationwide, in a joint research effort that aims to identify distinctive aspects of disease risks in the Japanese population to realise personalised medicine and prevention in Japan. The parties started the collaboration in November 2020 with a pilot phase and are continuing the project with ongoing sample analysis in Nightingale's Japan laboratory with already more than 10 000 samples analysed.

In the collaboration, the biomarker data from Nightingale's proprietary blood analysis is provided to BioBank Japan to advance medical research. The 250 biomarkers are captured for each blood sample with a single measurement. This will provide unprecedented molecular information on the health outcomes, such as chronic diseases, connected to the unique aspects of Japanese diet, lifestyle and genetic background. Moreover, as Nightingale's technology has already been used around the world, it is possible to understand ethnic differences by comparing these large datasets. The first results of the collaboration have already validated the applicability of Nightingale's disease risk detection models for the Japanese population.

Nightingale and BioBank Japan expect to publish more research results in the areas of personalised medicine and preventative health as the long-term collaboration continues.

Peter Würtz, Scientific Director and co-founder of Nightingale:

"Our joint research with BioBank Japan has already now provided a strong evidence base for using Nightingale's technology in Japan. Validation with local samples is important to ensure that environmental, lifestyle, and genetic differences between populations are taken into account. The work done with BioBank Japan shows that the perfomance of our disease risk detection models is excellent also in the Japanese population. We are analysing thousands of BioBank Japan samples every month, and I am excited to see the new findings that will be generated from this data."

Takayuki Morisaki, visiting professor at BioBank Japan, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo:

"The holistic overview of health and disease risks available with Nightingale's technology is unique and the scientific opportunities Nightingale's technology brings are remarkably broad. We expect the collaboration to create novel findings supporting our aim to contribute into the Japanese healthcare system together with the global welfare."

For further information, please contact:

Nightingale Health Japan
Minja Salmio, Representative Director

Nightingale Health Plc
Teemu Suna, CEO

ir@nightingalehealth.com

Biobank Japan Secretariat
Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
bbj@biobankjp.net

About Nightingale

Nightingale Health is a health technology company transforming preventive care. We envisage a world that focuses on keeping people healthy rather than just treating illnesses. The wide-ranging disease risk predictions provided by Nightingale consist of two interconnected factors: The extensive blood analysis technology developed by Nightingale and a large amount of data on health events. Nightingale helps people make better personal health decisions and connects the health industry to offer their services for individuals' preventative needs. By empowering the world with comprehensive health insights, we accelerate scientific discoveries, industry developments and improve personal health for everyone.

About BioBank Japan

BioBank Japan ("BBJ") is a biobank established in the Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo. With about 270,000 participants and more than 640,000 blood serum samples as well as about 270,000 DNA samples, BBJ is one of the largest disease biobanks in the world. BBJ collects and stores biological samples and information from patients throughout Japan. BBJ also provides the samples and information to various research projects in compliance with relevant regulations in Japan. As basic infrastructure of research, BBJ contributes to the success of many medical research projects.