JMS Co. Ltd will distribute the advanced portfolio of Fresenius Medical Care’s home dialysis systems in Japan, including automatic peritoneal dialysis system
Arm hooked up to dialysis tubing. (Credit: Anna Frodesiak/Wikipedia.)
Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases, has today announced a strategic distribution partnership with JMS Co. Ltd, a provider of medical devices and pharmaceuticals, in Japan. Under the agreement, JMS Co. Ltd. will distribute Fresenius Medical Care’s innovative home dialysis therapies in the Japanese market, providing patients with a wider range of dialysis choices to suit their lifestyle, enhance their wellbeing, and to help address the home healthcare needs of Japan’s aging population.
Japan has what is known as a ‘super-aging society’, with the largest elderly population in the world.1 By 2035, it is projected that 33 per cent of the total population will be aged 65 and over.1 Alongside this accelerated aging, the number of people requiring dialysis in Japan continues to grow each year. At the end of 2018, there were 339,841 people in Japan undergoing dialysis with an average age of almost 69 years.2 Yet the vast majority of these people receive their treatment in dialysis centers, with only 3 per cent undergoing home dialysis – the lowest percentage of home dialysis users in the developed world.2 The combination of increased aging population and dialysis need is placing pressure on the Japanese healthcare system, and it is mandatory for Japanese society to find a solution to these issues for sustainaiblity.3
Expanding the opportunities for home dialysis has the potential to provide clinical benefits to patients, as well as offer greater treatment flexibility that can improve quality of life.4 Home dialysis allows patients to have treatment in the familiar surroundings of their own home, where they can take an active hands-on role in their own care, while avoiding the need to travel to a clinic – and therefore enjoy more flexibility to work, study and/or socialize.4
“Fresenius Medical Care is committed to improving patients’ quality of life through our expertise in chronic kidney disease management”, said Mr Harry de Wit, CEO & President of Fresenius Medical Care Asia Pacific. “Through providing various treatments options to healthcare professionals and patients, we aim to deliver on our vision – to create a future worth living, for patients, worldwide, every day”.
“We are happy to form this strategic partnership with JMS, as we share the same vision about the future of home therapy in Japan. We are confident that our partnership will bring substantial benefits to the Japanese community,” said Mrs Jean DeSombre, Executive Vice President for Mature Asia, Fresenius Medical Care Asia Pacific.
Under the agreement, JMS Co. Ltd will distribute the advanced portfolio of Fresenius Medical Care’s home dialysis systems in Japan, including automatic peritoneal dialysis system. These systems, which have US Federal Drug Authority (FDA) and European CE Mark approvals, are used widely in other developed countries.
Source: Company Press Release