Japan

Beyond AI Hype: Tokyo-1’s Real Answer On How To Innovate Pharma R&D

 
• By 

Bringing supercomputing power to bear on large-scale calculations for pharma R&D, Tokyo-based Xeureka explains the practical use of AI to empower innovation beyond the hype.

Can Japan’s Richest Person Save Cell Therapy’s Future?

 
• By 

With financial help from the founder of Uniqlo, Japan’s leading facility for induced pluripotent stem cells is aiming to automate production to slash costs and kick-start R&D in the field.

Citeline Japan Awards 2025 - Enter Now!

 

The 14 July deadline for the Citeline Japan Awards 2025 in Tokyo is approaching fast, so here's a reminder to take a look at the categories and criteria and be sure to get those submissions in by this date. Sponsorship opportunities and tables for the event are also available.

Crisis Or Opportunity? US MFN Policy Could Test Japan’s Appetite For Reforms

 
• By 

While the adoption of most favored nation drug pricing in the US stands to affect Japanese biopharma firms now heavily reliant on this market, it might also present an opportunity for pricing and policy reforms at home.


In Brief: Nicox Extends Cash Runway As Kowa Advances NCX 470 In Japan

 

Eye drug is already in Phase III trials elsewhere, with results due in Q3. Nicox could earn up to a further €24.5m in milestones and royalties from Kowa alliance.

Japan Pharma Sees US Revenues Grow But Policy Impact Still Unclear

 
• By 

Japanese majors put in generally solid performances in the fiscal year ended 31 March, but overseas revenues and forex effects, rather than the domestic market, provided most of the growth.

Multiple Launches Help Lilly’s Japan Growth

 
• By 

Lilly saw solid growth for its business in Japan last year on the back of several new launches and is building its obesity and Alzheimer's portfolios in the country.

Shionogi In $1bn Deal For Japan Tobacco’s Pharma Ops

 
• By 

Mid-sized Japanese pharma firm to acquire tobacco giant’s pharma operations and take private the listed Torii Pharmaceutical business, in bid to build sales reach and strengthen manufacturing.


Japan Market Entry: Consortium’s One-Stop Shop To Support Foreign Entrants

 
• By 

Japanese CDMO Bushu talks about a consortium designed to provide a broad range of development services to smaller foreign firms looking to bring high-need drugs to the Japanese market.

Japan’s Ciconia Seeks Academic Candidates To Hatch In Global Market

 
• By 

Japanese incubator Ciconia has just started verifying its first drug candidate with a vision of building domestic startups with globally competitive assets.

US-China Tariff War Pressures Pharma’s Complex Supply Chain

 
• By 

Although pharmaceuticals are exempt from the US reciprocal tariff policy, for now, the escalating global trade war is already posing practical on-the-ground problems for some companies, Scrip hears.

AstraZeneca Logs Japan Growth Despite Price Cuts

 
• By 

AstraZeneca logs growth in Japan despite a big reimbursement price cut for one of its top sellers and expects 40 approvals in the country over the next six years.


Sumitomo Offloads Asia Pharma Ops To Marubeni For $480m

 
• By 

The latest in a long line of restructuring measures will see Sumitomo Pharma making a stepped sale of its pharma operations in Asia to major Japanese trading house Marubeni.

Japan T-Reg Venture RegCell Raises New Funds, Relocates To US

 
• By 

Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.

Eisai Expands Dementia Ecosystem Via EcoNaviSta Acquisition

 
• By 

Move to acquire profitable Tokyo-based venture part of Japanese major's strategy of building a broader ecosystem for dementia detection and care.

Multiple Factors Behind Accelerating Private Equity Plays In Japan, APAC

 

With two major deals since just the beginning of the year in Japan, private equity groups appear to be ramping up their presence in the country's biopharma sector, amid ongoing activity across the wider APAC region.


Novartis Joins MRGPRX2 Race Through $800m+ Kyorin Deal

 
• By 

Swiss major gains global rights to preclinical asset as it joins race for MRGPRX2 antagonists in urticaria, where some same-class rivals are already in Phase II.

Blackstone To Acquire CMIC As PE’s Japan Push Continues

 
• By 

Blackstone to buy leading Japanese CRO in latest move by a global private equity group to build a position in Japan’s life sciences space.

Japan-Korea Venture Collab Grows With VC And Regulatory Meetups

 
• By 

Cross-Asian initiative has already brought several South Korean gene and cell therapy startups and Japanese VCs closer, with further hopes for product development and launches in Japan, regulatory harmonization and gliobalization.

Bain To Acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe In $3.4bn Deal

 

US private equity group to buy Japanese pharma firm in a transaction scheduled to close by September that marks owner's exit from pharma.