TOKYO, April 5, 2017 -- Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 4519) announced today that it launched a new website for adolescent and young adult patients with cancer, “AYA’s Life (https://aya-life.jp/, Japanese only)” (editorial supervisor: Ken Shimizu, MD, Department of Psycho-Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital), aimed at “realizing cancer treatment that allow patients confront cancer proactively and with hope.”

AYA is the abbreviation of “Adolescent and Young Adult,” which means children in adolescence and young adult aged around 15 to 39 years. The patients in Generation AYA have a problem with cancer in addition to distress unique to this generation including commuting to school, going to higher school, getting a job and marriage, and their problems can easily be complex. However, they have difficulty in finding someone with the same disease or place for consultation and obtaining the specific information for Generation AYA, because the number of patients with cancer in the generation is smaller than that of those older than the young.

“AYA's Life” is a website mainly consisting of patients' experience of Generation AYA, which tells how a patient faced with cancer and how his/her feeling has been changed. This website is aimed at relieving concerns of patients in Generation AYA facing with cancer and their families to clear their distress as much as possible.

Summary of the contents is as follows:
(1) Background of distress
To think together about distress of patients in Generation AYA, such as academic leaning, getting a job, love, marriage and childbirth.
(2) Patients' experience
Provide patients' experience through interviews with patients in Generation AYA.
(3) AYA's voice
We asked patients in 20s to look back on their feelings and distress by answering questionnaire.
(4) Advice from professionals
Tips from professionals to make patients in Generation AYA feel at ease.
(5) Glossary
Keywords relating specifically to patients in Generation AYA.

Chugai, as the leading company in oncology field in Japan, will continue to carry out activities that will be trusted and valued by healthcare professionals, patients and their families.