Sony Corporation ("Sony") announced today that Sony and CMIC Healthcare Co., Ltd. ("CMIC Healthcare"), a consolidated subsidiary of CMIC Holdings Co. Ltd. ("CMIC Holdings"), have signed a legally-binding definitive agreement for Sony to transfer its "harmo" branded electronic medication notebook service business to CMIC Healthcare (the "Transfer"). Both companies aim to complete the Transfer, which will be executed by way of an "absorption-type company split," by June 1, 2019.

Additionally, Sony has signed a Technology Support Agreement with CMIC Holdings, under which it will employ the Sony Startup Acceleration Program's* business development framework, launched by Sony in 2014 for the purpose of supporting startup generation and business operation, to support CMIC Holdings' various businesses, which will include the harmo business upon completion of the Transfer.

harmo was offered as a trial service for a period of five years starting in the autumn of 2011, after which it was commercialized in the summer of 2016 as a fully-realized service based on a platform for the sharing of medical and health information. As of March 2019, the harmo system has been adopted by approximately 850 pharmacies and 80 medical care facilities, and approximately 300,000 people are using harmo in their daily lives.

In the current social environment, there is growing demand for the use of information communication technology and data storage in medical care. Users of the harmo service have been increasing, and expectations and demand from the medical and healthcare industry for a practical method of data sharing have continued to grow. Meanwhile, the harmo service has repeatedly demonstrated contributions to the improvement of users' health through a new framework that offers unique information communication services, including transmission of urgent safety information pertaining to specific medications taken by users and surveys on the quality of life of patients, features that were launched from the business perspective of ensuring the continued viability of the harmo service.

Building on these results, in order to create additional services which correspond to both the needs of the medical and healthcare industry and the needs of patients, and to promote business for the purpose of solving social problems, Sony has decided to transfer the harmo business to CMIC Healthcare, a company which supports the Japanese medical and healthcare industry from a variety of angles.

Sony is committed to providing uninterrupted service to all individuals, pharmacies and other users of the harmo service, and will work to ensure that their use of the harmo service will remain uninterrupted in connection with the Transfer. In addition, Sony employees who have been involved in system development and service operation for harmo will continue to be actively engaged in the harmo business at CMIC Healthcare following the Transfer, where they will support further development of even higher-quality services under the terms of the newly-signed Technology Support Agreement.

• *SSAP is a startup support service that delivers the experience and knowhow gained internally through the Seed Acceleration Project, which supports the creation and business operation of startups at Sony, to the external market.