Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd.: Lessons from a Japanese Pharma Major

During the 1950s, Japan did not have a product patent system which meant that companies could manufacture and sell any drug discovered by any company. All they had to do was to find out a new way of producing the drug and then manufacture it for commercial use (Refer Exhibit II for a note on the Japanese pharmaceutical industry).

Like most of the pharmaceutical companies, Takeda also relied mostly on manufacturing and selling drugs discovered by other companies (mostly from the US and Europe) or licensing foreign technology. Takeda showed more interest in development rather than on discovery...

Some of the factors behind this were having a broad product portfolio, a strong R&D program spread across various therapeutic areas and a good program of physician detailing (the company's medical representatives marketing and selling their products to physicians) in the country.

Takeda divided the drugs it manufactured into two segments: ethical drugs and other products. Unlike the other products segment, ethical drugs were manufactured and sold under different therapeutic categories (Refer Exhibit III for various drugs and their therapeutic categories). Takeda launched a series of drugs during the early-1990s that went on to become best sellers...