Three large Japanese firms are forming a joint venture to jumpstart drug research in their home country and stem a recent decline in the development of innovative medicines there.
On Monday, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Astellas Pharma and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking announced they’ve signed a deal to establish the as-yet unnamed joint venture, which will be tasked with incubating early drug discovery programs, primarily from Japan, and turning them into new therapies.
The new firm will be initially funded with about 600 million yen, or roughly $3.9 million. Takeda and Astellas will each own 33.4% of its shares, with Sumitomo holding the remaining 33.2%. It’ll be led by pharmaceutical veteran Toshio Fujimoto, the founding CEO of iPark Institute, a Takeda spinout. The joint venture will be located at Shohan Health Innovation Park, which iPark manages and houses some 150 companies, including drug startups.
In starting the joint venture, Takeda, Astellas and Sumitomo hope to advance academic research in Japan. Though the country is one of the world’s leaders in drug discovery, in recent years it has struggled to churn out new drugs and startup companies. This has posed a “major challenge” in realizing the potential of technologies and “seed assets” originating in Japan, the companies said in a statement.
For instance, a February report from contract research and consulting firm Iqvia found that the number trials started by Japanese companies declined from 501 in 2013 to 244 a decade later. Over that time, Japan’s share of clinical trial starts fell from 11% to 4%. The country also launched only 20 new medicines in 2023, the lowest total since 2014 and behind the U.S. and other major markets, Iqvia said.
The joint venture was formed as a response to those types of trends. Though the companies didn’t provide many specific details, they noted the venture will cover “the entire drug discovery process” by incubating early research in Japan and helping form “high caliber” startup companies around it. Takeda and Astellas will provide support as well, they said.
Takeda, Astellas and Sumitomo expect “a swift launch of the new incubation activities” once all of the details are finalized, they said. The joint venture is expected to launch in the middle of the year, according to the statement.