The pharmaceuticals and chemicals business combines our accumulated fermenting expertise with the latest biotechnologies to develop products that benefit society. These include pharmaceuticals, veterinary/agro-drugs, fine chemicals and food additives.

We developed the agricultural antibiotic Kasugamycin and the clinical antibiotic Josamycin in the 1960s. Both drugs are long-selling products for which there is still considerable demand.

In the 1970s, we began to conduct research on antibiotics for malignant tumors, which resulted in the development of three anti-cancer drugs that were sold in Japan and overseas. We produce these drugs by combining fermenting techniques with chemical synthesis at our Yatsushiro and Iwata plants, both of which comply with current Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and pharmaceutical production and quality control standards from the generation of bulk powder to the manufacture of the final product.

We have also launched sales of pharmaceuticals and chemicals and cultivated businesses overseas. As part of our efforts to venture into new markets, we have established Shenzhen Main Luck Pharmaceuticals Inc., a joint venture company in China to produce and sell anti-cancer drugs.

In 1989, we launched Aivlosin, a veterinary drug produced by using bioconversion technologies. We sell the drug for the treatment of mycoplasma pneumonia in chickens, swine and other animals.

Our bioconversion technologies focus on specific microbial reactions to enable the efficient production of optically active chiral compounds of value, including pharmaceuticals and medicinal chemicals. Bioconversion technologies have great promise and facilitate production methods that are hard to develop using chemical synthesis.

Going forward, we will utilize fermenting, chemical synthesis and bioconversion technologies to develop antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs and other pharmaceuticals, as well as fine chemicals. At the same time, we will strive further to promote drug discovery, health foods and cosmetics businesses.

Moreover, with access to bioresources in Indonesia for use in drug discovery now possible under the Convention on Biological Diversity, we will promote collaborative research aimed at exploring the potential of bioactive substances.