As with many other industries, the pharmaceutical industry is experiencing accelerated changes triggered by external factors, meaning it must keep transforming itself.

To help the company transform and achieve its vision, the Strategic Plan 2018 was introduced last year. In essence, Astellas Pharma’s activities, delivered through a corporate culture based on the highest ethical standards and integrity, aim to maximize the “outcomes that matter to patients” and minimize the “cost to the health care system of delivering those outcomes.”

Astellas Pharma is focusing on improving access to health in the four areas of creating innovation, enhancing availability, strengthening health care systems and improving health literacy.

An important part of the Strategic Plan 2018 is pursuing operational excellence. In practice, it means maximizing the use of the latest technologies, such as real-world data, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence. Astellas Pharma employees play the most valuable role in transforming the company and in achieving enhanced levels of enterprise value. Globally, the company promotes an internal culture called The Astellas Way, comprising five core values of patient focus, ownership, results, openness and integrity. After 14 years in one location, Astellas Pharma moved its Prague headquarters at the beginning of 2019. Rudy Kozak, the general manager of Astellas Pharma in Prague, explained the purpose behind this: “We did this in order to provide our employees with modern, open plan premises. As in other global companies, a focus on modern internal communication and collaboration and new-ways-to-work methods are being supported by state-of- the-art office technology.”

www.astellas.cz

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Taiho Pharma Canada’s metastatic colon or rectal cancer treatment LONSURF was swiftly approved by Canada’s public health agency, Health Canada, and has been available in Canada since January 2018. LONSURF combines trifluridine, which interferes with DNA in cancer cells to stop them from making new cancer cells and tipiracil, which stops trifluridine from being broken down by enzymes before it can act. LONSURF has been well received in Canada, encouraging Taiho Pharma Canada to bring new drugs to the market.

“We work closely with customers and focus on solving problems together,” said Glover. “Having worked in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry for 30 years, I personally understand the dynamic conversations and important relationships that need to take place.”

As with Japan, Canada has its own unique corporate culture. Glover’s counterparts in Japan recognize the importance of understanding the Canadian way of doing business.

“Our different approaches have created synergies,” said Glover. “Together we are achieving success in the Canadian market by conducting our business in a transparent manner and strengthening our engagement with Canada’s pharmaceutical market.” Through Taiho Pharma Canada’s patient-focused approach, the company is continuing to grow while directly improving the lives of patients.

“We have developed the business through teamwork, courage, resilience and passion,” concluded Glover. “With these factors in place, success has followed and we are very much looking forward to the future.”

 www.otsuka.com/en
www.taihopharma.ca

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“There is a lot of unreliable information and false claims surrounding aromatherapy, so we invested heavily into research conducted by independent experts in Europe following strict protocols,” shared AromaStick co-founder Nick Singer.

Thirteen studies involving over 700 individuals have been made thus far, eight of which have been peer reviewed and published in trusted academic publications around the world.

“The findings from our products exceeded all our expectations and show that the effects are not only psychological but also physiologically measurable,” explained Nick’s brother and co-founder Tim Singer.

Depending on the blend, stress-related biomarkers such as blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol are drastically reduced, or blood-oxygen levels are increased, enhancing wellbeing after a few inhalations.

AromaStick is manufactured entirely in Switzerland and proudly bears the Swiss mark of quality. The products were launched in September 2017 and are now sold in over 15 countries, including Japan, through trusted distribution partners.

“Japan is one of our most exciting markets at the moment,” said Nick. “We have built a very good relation with our distribution partner in Japan, MK Enterprise Inc., which has not only made our products available in several department stores, pharmacies and convenience stores, but also opened doors to potential collaborations extending to research and development, as well as product development.”

“There is a huge potential for the company to continue growing and we appreciate sharing the same values — such as diligence and an unrelenting adherence to quality — with our partners in Japan.”

AromaStick is distributed in stores and pharmacies such as Tokyu Hands, Aroma Bloom, Aeon Body, Beauty Library, Keio Department Store and Tanabe Pharmacy.

www.aromastick.net
www.aromastick.jp

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As a midsize player in the pharmaceutical industry, Meditop specializes in products for the central nervous system (CNS). The company has 13 registered pharmaceutical patents with licenses in Hungary and other European markets.

Today, Meditop’s second-largest export market, after Germany, is Vietnam. The company has also reached out to Singapore.

Flagship products include the cognitive-enhancer Memoril (piracetam) and the muscle-relaxant Miderizone (tolperisone hydrochloride).

“We were the first company to develop the molecule tolperisone as a high-quality generic product,” said Ács. “This product is popular in Asia and is included in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia.”

Meditop has recently signed partnerships across the European Union and Canada for the development of new products, aiming to expand its CNS line and secure a leading position in the industry.

“Meditop is an ideal partner for Japanese pharmaceutical companies such as Eisai, a company that also has very good CNS products,” explained Ács. “We are able to register, launch, distribute and promote products, not only in Hungary, but also across Europe.”

“We want to establish synergies with other small and midsized pharmaceutical companies around the world,” concluded Greskovits. “Our size allows us to fully commit ourselves to developing partnerships with key industry players to create win-win ventures.”

www.meditop.hu

“Patients chronically infected with HBV are unable to clear the viruses because of ineffective antiviral immunity,” said Chen. Elixiron is developing novel immunotherapeutics to reinvigorate antiviral immunity to cure chronic HBV. The company’s first investigational new drug under the United States Food and Drug Administration is anticipated in 2019.

The company takes a similar immunological approach to conquering cancer. Despite the unprecedented durable response rates observed with immune checkpoint blockades, efficacy is limited in the majority of treated patients by a key barrier — the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

By utilizing a translational medicine approach, Elixiron’s scientists have identified key immunosuppressive cytokines from the microenvironment of immunologically cold tumors, which drive immune resistance and cancer metastasis.

“We are committed to the development of revolutionary immunotherapies, which target the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and harness the full power of the immune system to fight cancer,” said Chen.

“By 2021, we aim to become a biotechnology rising star with two clinical stage immunotherapeutics in development to help win the battle against both HBV and cancer.”

www.elixiron.com

Japan is a world leader in research and development of small molecule drugs and cell therapy and is now taking steps to strengthen its biologics development.

In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration historically approved the first two products of CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) cell therapy and the first product of gene therapy. “We expect to see more efforts and activities devoted to these fields in Japan, while TFBS is targeted to provide services of GMP (good manufacturing practice) virus production and testing in 2018,” explained Yuan.

TFBS aims to become a center of excellence for virus testing and production in Asia. Sixteen percent of TFBS’s clients are Japanese — Yuan aims to increase this to 50 percent in the next two years in line with the development of Japan’s biopharmaceutical industry.

“While meeting the biological safety and quality requirements of Japan’s regulatory authorities, TFBS is committed to strengthening our relationships with our Japanese clients,” concluded Yuan.

“In the coming age of cell and gene therapy, we look forward to providing our Japanese clients with solutions for their needs in the production of viruses at our cutting-edge GMP-compliant P2 facility.”

www.tfbsbio.com