Be a Global Specialty
Pharma,
competing in the global arena
To supply the world with new drugs, we are reinforcing overseas business expansion
in anticipation of our own overseas marketing of products starting from the niche area for which marketing activities can be carried out with small staff.
In South Korea and Taiwan, we have already set up wholly owned subsidiaries and have started selling products.
We are also working to improve and strengthen our development and other systems, with a view to future marketing through our own sales organizations in US and Europe.
About overseas sites
Expanding beyond Japan, we operate in the four markets: South Korea, Taiwan, UK, and US. We have established our own sales organization in South Korea and Taiwan. In the US and Europe, we are working to improve and strengthen our development and other systems, with a view to future marketing through our own sales organizations.
- The photo shows the buildings where our local subsidiaries are located.
Promotion of Business in Asia
As a beachhead to expand revenue sources into overseas markets, we have been reinforcing overseas business expansion starting in Asia. We established wholly owned subsidiaries, ONO PHARMA KOREA CO., LTD. in South Korea in 2013 and ONO PHARMA TAIWAN CO., LTD. in Taiwan in 2014. The subsidiaries have since launched their own marketing and have demonstrated steady progress.
We have obtained approval for OPDIVO for additional indications not only in Japan but also in the rest of the world. The drug has been approved for 8 and 10 types of cancer in South Korea and in Taiwan respectively (as of June 2020). To significantly contribute to advancement in cancer therapy in South Korea and Taiwan, we also put efforts into safety measures by, e.g., rolling out scientific activities countrywide with Japanese and Western doctors appointed as lecturers to promote proper drug use. In addition, we conduct information dissemination activities not only on a countrywide level but also on a small-scale, locally-focused level to bring a fresh sensitivity to both markets as part of efforts to become the market leader in oncology in Asia.
We have also established a division within our Corporate Development & Strategy that is in charge of planning operations in South Korea and Taiwan and expansion into other Asian markets. In close cooperation with the locally incorporated subsidiaries, the division investigates issues and develop overseas business strategies.
Business Expansion into the US and Europe
We have established our own sales organization in South Korea and Taiwan and have pursued out-licensing of new drug candidates developed in-house to deliver them to healthcare settings in other overseas regions. Currently, however, we are in preparatory stages to sell our drugs on our own, also in the US and Europe, the world’s largest markets. We are setting up local centers for clinical development and building a structure that ensures that we can perform clinical development and apply for approval by ourselves. We will pursue organizational improvements that enable us to also, in addition to early-stage clinical trials, conduct late-stage clinical trials in the US and Europe and conduct application for approval through consultation with the regulators.
As a first step in business development in the US and Europe, we intend to market in-house developed products in the domain that does not require a large-scale sales organization. We will sell such new drugs with efficacy and safety expected superior to those of the competition, and which can increase our presence there. Among our current pipelines, we consider, as global development pipelines, compounds under development to treat hematologic cancer or neurological disease, so that we can deliver new drugs to patients worldwide.
We continue upgrading our drug development infrastructure in Japan, the rest of Asia, the US, and Europe to strengthen and speed up our global development system.