Yamanouchi
In February 2004 Yamanouchi announced it was to buy Fujisawa in a deal worth $7.76bn with a planned completion date of April 2005. The deal creates Japan's second largest sales force, a broad product portfolio and a strong platform for overseas expansion
Yamanouchi's pharmaceutical sales increased by 7.7% in 2002 to S3,285m. Future growth will be driven by a combination of in-house development and in-licensing of key products.
With cash and short-term investments at S2.7bn in 2002, Yamanouchi is in a strong financial position, enabling it to invest in further strengthening its portfolio via licensing deals. Yamanouchi now has a US subsidiary, Yamanouchi Pharma America. This will allow the company to exploit the largest pharmaceutical market directly and to generate higher revenues by launching smaller drugs from its portfolio, rather than limiting its US exposure to larger drugs that attract licensing partners.
Yamanouchi has three products in its portfolio that are blockbusters in terms of their total global sales: Harnal, Gaster and Lipitor. Marketing such drugs raises the profile of the company in the international pharmaceutical market, facilitating further licensing or partnership deals.
Although Lipitor's dominance is assured in the short-term, it will eventually face competition from third-generation statins, including Crestor and Livalo. Sales of Lipitor accruing to Yamanouchi are predicted to rise from $506m in 2002 to $774m in 2008.
Yamanouchi is in a strong position to drive future growth, with 24 products in development. Key compounds include YM-177, YM-087 and YM-905, and should help the company overcome its major weakness: over reliance on mature products for growth.
□ In 2002, Eisai reported total consolidated sales of S3,527m, up 8.1% from the previous year. Sales of pharmaceutical products comprised 94.7% of the total and recorded an 8.9% increase over 2001.
□ Eisai's position is precarious, with the overall future of its pharmaceutical business dependent upon just two products, Aricept and Aciphex. Although this underlines the importance of the company's focus on lifecycle management, this should not be at the expense of developing new compounds.
□ Eisai is reducing its dependence on the Japanese market. It has forged co-development partnerships with major international players, restructured its management to resemble that of a Western company, and introduced a global incentive scheme for R&D contributors.
□ The majority of Eisai's future growth is projected to come from US operations, with the company targeting 15% sales growth for Eisai Inc. by capitalizing on the expansion of its sales force.
□ To retain its position in Japan while focusing in-house R&D investment overseas, Eisai has in-licensed compounds from Western companies, including Abbott's KES-524 and D2E7, and entered agreements with Aventis for the Japanese co-promotion of Actonel and with Kyorin for the migraine treatment Maxalt.
□ Aricept is regarded as the gold standard Alzheimer's disease treatment in the seven major markets and is currently the only such therapy available in Japan. Eisai's sales of Aricept could reach S 1,305m in 2005 before declining to $ 1,277m in 2008.
□ Phase III T-614 has unique potential both as a COX-II inhibitor and as a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug. If successfully approved, it could generate sales of $169m in 2008.