Japan Tobacco's Pharma Focus

Japan Tobacco, which was listed on the Tokyo stock exchange earlier this month (Marketletters passim), is focusing its pharmaceutical division as one of its main new business lines. The company is not only working towards developing its own products but also introducing products both from other Japanese companies and foreign drug companies, JT's director of pharmaceuticals, Masakazu Kakei, told Pharma Japan in an interview.

He said that the company has almost completed its first step into the pharmaceutical business, which is to set up an R&D system, but added that the main problem in the future will be where to lay its R&D pipeline.

The company entered the pharmaceutical arena in the late 1980s with the opening of toxicology research laboratories. Basic research laboratories were opened in 1992 and chemical research, biological and pharmacological, and pharmaceutical development laboratories were subsequently established in 1993. The company also opened up an over-the-counter drugs business in October last year.