IFPMA
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
June 24, 2011
The IFPMA Welcomes Otsuka Pharmaceutical as New
Member to advance Global Health
Geneva, 23 June 2011 – The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) is pleased to announce the addition of a new member, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Otsuka), a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., Japan’s second largest research-based pharmaceutical company group. Otsuka’s accession to IFPMA was approved at the Council meeting held on June 22, 2011.
“Otsuka’s participation is an important milestone for IFPMA. Otsuka has a strong track record and continued desire for improving the health of patients globally by addressing true unmet medical needs,” said Mr. Eduardo Pisani, IFPMA Director General. “We are pleased that Otsuka as a member company is positioned to bring its unique approach to health and would play an active role with IFPMA in contributing to global health.”
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a global healthcare company operating with a diversified range of businesses including pharmaceuticals and nutritional products. As a pharmaceutical company, Otsuka has taken an innovative approach in delivering unique products to the global market. In its relatively short history of medicine R&D, the company has discovered numerous innovative medicines, including the antipsychotic agent ABILIFY, a dopamine D2 partial agonist, currently marketed in more than 65 countries and regions. In May 2011, the company announced as well the establishment of Otsuka S.A. in Geneva, Switzerland to serve as the company’s central operations for developing and implementing public health policies and corporate social responsibility programs in connection with its global tuberculosis (TB) program.
“40 years ago, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, with its underlying corporate philosophy of ‘Otsuka-people creating new products for better health worldwide’, began its endeavor as a research-based pharmaceutical company,” said Dr. Taro Iwamoto, President, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. “Since then, Otsuka has expanded its global operations with various products including our antipsychotic agent, ABILIFY. We are now taking an important next step forward as a global research-based company. We are pleased to join IFPMA, an international network of research-based pharmaceutical companies, in this, our 40th anniversary since starting of our original medicine R&D.”
About the IFPMA
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations is the global non-profit NGO representing the research-based pharmaceutical industry, including the biotech and vaccine sectors. Its members comprise 26 leading international companies and 44 national and regional industry associations covering low, middle and high income countries. The industry’s R&D pipeline contains hundreds of new medicines and vaccines being developed to address global disease threats, including cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and malaria. The IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal (www.ifpma.org/ClinicalTrials), the IFPMA’s Ethical Promotion online resource (www.ifpma.org/EthicalPromotion/) and its Developing World Health Partnerships Directory (www.ifpma.org/HealthPartnerships) help make the industry’s activities more transparent. The IFPMA supports a wide range of WHO technical activities, notably those relating to medicine efficacy, quality and safety. It also provides the secretariat for the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH).
For further information on IFPMA, please visit www.ifpma.org
