Fujisawa net income slides 10.4% as R&D investment increases

Fujisawa of Japan notes that sales for the fiscal year ended March 31rose 2.9% to 297.52 billion yen ($2.41 billion) and operating income fell 3.6% to 33.61 billion yen. Net profits decreased 10.4% to 20.53 billion yen, after a 14.2% increase in R&D spending to 52.02 billion yen.

The company said that domestic sales were flat, reaching 205.15 billion yen, principally driven by the antidepressant Luvox (fluvoxamine), the immunosuppressant Prograf (tacrolimus) and the ointment form of tacrolimus, Protopic, for the treatment of atopic dermatitis.

Fujisawa also heralded the performance of a number of newly-launched products, ie its Dovonex (calcipotriol) ointment for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris, Colonel (HSR-237) for irritable bowel syndrome, the hypnotic Myslee (zolpidem) and the antipsychotic Serequel (quetiapine). On the negative front, sales of the glaucoma treatment Rescula (isopropyl unoprostone) were down, due to competition from Pharmacia's Xalatan (latanoprost), as were those of the antibiotic Cefzon (cefdinir).