Yamanouchi Has New Name, Enlarged Mission

The merger of Yamanouchi Pharma Inc. with Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. will result in a stronger, more efficient company, officers of Astellas Pharma Inc. said Wednesday.

The former Yamanouchi plant in Norman will continue manufacturing pharmaceuticals, only more of them-and faster, Astellas executives told a gathering of plant employees, state officials and local leaders at the Postal Service Center.

The Norman Yamanouchi plant has been renamed Astellas Technologies Inc., the manufacturing arm of Astellas Pharma. Another manufacturing plant, formerly under Fujisawa is in Grand Island, N.Y.

“We will manage Astellas like one integrated company,” said Makoto Nishimura, president and chief executive of Astellas Pharma. An immunologist, Nishimura joined Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. in 1978 and managed the company’s European division.

With the April 1 merger of the Fujisawa and Yamanouchi companies, Nishimura became chief of the North American division of Astellas, in Chicago. The company’s worldwide headquarters are in Tokyo.

Nishimura said Astellas U.S. is a midsize pharmaceutical company with a strategic plan to double its current sales of $1.1 billion over the next five years. In the U.S Astellas manufactures and markets drugs for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, urinary tract infections and skin diseases. “We plan to be a big winner in the next five years,” Nishimura said.

The new company is enriched by the capabilities of Fujisawa, he said. A 110-year-old company, Fujisawa has provided healthcare services and produced medical supplies and system. April 1, Yamanouchi bought out Fujisawa Pharmaceutical for about $8.4 billion in stock. The consolidated Astellas Pharma Inc. now has assets of about $16 billion and 17,000 employees worldwide.

The goal of Astellas is to be a leader in research, development and efficiency of scale, said Akihito Matsubara, Astellas Pharma’s chief financial officer. “It now takes 10 years and $800 million to develop a new drug,” he said. “The U.S. is the world’s largest pharmaceutical market. The U.S provides 50 percent of world pharmaceutical sales. Soon it will be 60 percent. Success in the U.S. is critical to the success of our company.”

The Norman plant will be stronger under the new consolidation, said Astellas Technologies president Shigeharu Yokohama. “We have greater resources, we are able to move faster with new products, new relationships and new challenges.

“Norman has been chosen as the global manufacturing center for Astellas,” Yokohama said. “Norman will manufacture new products for the North America, European and Japanese markets.”

Other Astellas executives making presentations Wednesday were Norihiro Kajikawa, executive vice president; Hitoshi Ohta, senior vice president of technology, Akihito Matsubara, divisional chief financial officer and Toshiaki Miyoshi, associate senior vice president.

Yamanouchi Pharma, established in Tokyo in 1923, began operating in Norman in 1989 when the company purchased Shaklee Corporation’s manufacturing plant for $395 million.

Last year Yamanouchi spun off Shaklee, a manufacturer and distributor of vitamins, dietary supplements and household products, for a reported $310 million. Yamanouchi still handles some contract work for Shaklee products.

In 2003, Yamanouchi completed a $40 million research development center in Norman, now staffed with about 80 scientists and technicians. The new Astellas now has about 360 full-time employees in Norman.