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Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma

Tracy Everhart

Executive Summary

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is a Japanese pharmaceuticals company, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. It is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products. The medical supplies business is engaged in the research, development, manufacture and sale of ethical pharmaceutical and non-prescription drugs. The Company’s subsidiaries receive raw materials from the company and sell products locally.

History of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma

Takeda Kasei Co., Ltd. was established in 1940 by Chobei Takeda & Co., Ltd. (present-day Takeda Pharmaceutical Company) and Nippon Kasei Chemical Co. Ltd. (present-day Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation) and built its first plant in Higashi-Yoshitomi-mura, Fukuoka Prefecture. The company changed its name in 1952 to Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in 1946 and listed on Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges in 1949.

The Blood Plasma Corporation of Japan was established in 1950 with head office and plant in Osaka. This company changed its name to Green Cross Corporation in 1964.

Green Cross Corporation was acquired by Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical in 1998, changing its name to Welfide Corporation in 2000. The founders of Green Cross Corporation included war criminals such as Kitano Masaji who performed torture and experimentations on humans in the Japanese military’s notorious Unit 731 during World War II. These crimes were recognized by the UN as extreme “crimes against humanity”.

In 1901 Motosaburo Tanabe established a pharmacy in Tokyo, which was incorporated in 1921 as Motosaburo Tanabe Shoten, changing its name in 1943 to Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Nippon Tar Industries was established in 1921, becoming Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd. in 1952. This company established a business alliance with Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co. in 1981, and changed its name to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation following the 1984 merger with Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co. merged formally in 1999 and formed Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to take over the combined pharmaceutical operations of the two companies.

Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals and Welfide Corporation merged in 2001 to establish Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation, and this company joined again with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation to create Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation in October 2005. In 2007, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma was born out of the merger between Tanabe Seiyaku and Mitsubishi Pharma.

In August 2014 the company announced it had agreed to collaborate with AstraZeneca to leverage the pair’s strengths, expertise and assets on diabetic nephropathy, in a bid to develop high quality drugs much quicker than working alone. According to the National Institute of Health, 60% to 70% of diabetic sufferers in the U.S. alone suffered from nerve disorders related to diabetic nephropathy. The three-year research agreement has the objective of creating new treatments to replace expensive and limited options currently in place, mainly being dialysis or kidney transplantation.

In July, 2017, the company acquired Neuroderm for $1.1 billion.

Subsidiaries of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma:

Among Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s notable subsidiaries are:

A full list of subsidiaries may be found here: https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/e/ir/annual/pdf/CR_2018_en.pdf

Popular Pharmaceutical Products of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma

The top products of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma

  1. Remicade – Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, Behcet’s disease with refractory uveoretinitis, and ankylosing spondylitis
  2. Talion – Treatment of allergic disorders 
  3. Maintate – Treatment of hypertension, angina pectoris, extrasystole, chronic heart failure, and atrial fibrillation
  4. Kremezin – Treatment of chronic kidney disease
  5. Tetrabik – Combined vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and polio
  6. Varicella vaccine – Freeze dried live attenuated varicella vaccine 

Product Recalls and Lawsuits

  1. In 2011, Mitsubish Tanabe Corp recalled two million of its injectable medicines made at a facility in Ashikaga, Japan, because it cannot guarantee their quality. The products that were affected were 5mcg and 10mcg formulations of the arteriosclerosis treatment Liple (alprostadil); 2.5mg doses of corticosteroid Limethason Intravenous Injection (dexamethasone palmitate) used to treat rheumatoid arthritis; and 300mg and 500mg doses of the quinolone antibiotic Pazucross Injection (pazufloxacin mesylate).

Litigation Settlements

As of 2019, Mitsubishi Tanabe has not been involved in any remarkable litigation settlements. 

Sources:

https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/e/ir/annual/pdf/CR_2018_en.pdf

https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/shared/show.php?url=/e/ir/annual/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Tanabe_Pharma

http://www.pharmafile.com/news/280111/mitsubishi-tanabe-recalls-two-million-injectables

https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/shared/show.php?url=/e/ir/annual/index.html

Tracy Everhart is the Editor for Drug Law Journal. A highly-trained and certified medical professional, Tracy is also an accomplished medical writer. After spending years on the front lines of the medical profession, Tracy now devotes her expertise and skills to researching and reporting on new drugs and devices that enter the market, as well as their side-effects and the real-life stories involved. Prior to joining Drug Law Journal, Tracy wrote for benchmark online healthcare resources focused on families and, in particular, women’s health issues. Tracy holds post-graduate degrees from both the American College of Healthcare Sciences and the Yale School of Nursing. She is also a graduate of both Hampshire College, where she studied microbiology and the University of South Carolina school of nursing.