The International Medical Information Center (Foundation) was established in April 1972, succeeding the extramural services such as providing information by Keio University Shinanomachi Media Center (Kitasato Memorial Medical Library). The explicit purposes of the organization were to act as the central agency for medical information activities in Japan and to collect and disseminate highly sophisticated medical information both to domestic and foreign consumers, ultimately contributing to progress in the medical sciences. The foundation was approved as a medical information center by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Since August 1974, it has contributed significantly as an information agency, occupying the position of a professional center to fulfill the role of a medical information service for science and technology within the framework of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that has been proposed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

As part of a service organization to provide information related to medicine and medical services, the foundation has been engaged in extensive activities, such as collecting safety information of pharmaceutical products and medical devices under GVP regulation (GVP contract service), providing information for the proper use of pharmaceutical products, the retrieval of information on evidence-based medicine (EBM), medical services, and pharmaceutical products; modification and reprocessing of various information, and research support services, such as surveys and research of medically related information upon consignment, translation services, and other services related to data on academic meetings. Such activities, retrieval of accurate and useful information and making it readily available, are truly valuable to users. In addition to data in its possession, the foundation obtains and copies literature from the Keio University Shinanomachi Media Center (Kitasato Memorial Medical Library) as well as from overseas through domestic and foreign agencies. It has rightfully earned high praise as a truly sophisticated information center.