Japan’s pharma industry pledges to maintain medicines supply
pharmafile | March 17, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Astellas, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Japan, earthquake
Pharmaceutical firms in Japan have escaped the very worst of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami, and have pledged to help relief efforts.
Most pharma firms in the country have said that their staff are safe. But Eisai is still trying to account for two workers, thought to be sales-based or branch-office based, after initially fearing that up to 50 members of staff could be missing.
The disaster’s official death toll now stands at over 5,000, with a further 8,606 people still missing.
Of greatest concern is the growing threat of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which could release highly dangerous radioactive gases into the atmosphere if not brought under control.
Pharma efforts
The Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association has set up an emergency relief headquarters, and says it is doing all it can to ensure to medicines reach those in need. The Association is working with the government and pharmaceutical wholesalers to deliver the drugs to healthcare personnel working in the affected areas.
Massive damage and destruction to the infrastructure in the stricken east coast regions is making reaching those in need exceptionally difficult.
Japan is home to four major pharma companies – Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai and Takeda. Three are headquartered in Tokyo, some 250 miles (400km) from the earthquake’s epicentre while Takeda is headquartered further south in Osaka.
Many of the companies have research and manufacturing operations in the east coast area, including Astellas’ manufacturing operations in Nishine in the Iwate prefecture and manufacturing and research sites in Takahagi in the Ibaraki prefecture.
The company says it will continue to assess conditions of its research and manufacturing facilities so it can resume operations as soon as possible.
Astellas said it has more than three months of inventories of its mainstay products and does not foresee any shortfall in medicines production because of the quake.
Many foreign pharma firms also have presence in the country, the world’s second biggest pharma market. Boehringer Ingelheim tweeted that it has suffered “huge damages” at one of its plants in Fukushima, near the quake’s epicentre, but said its priority was to ensure the safety of employees and their families.
To help with the recovery, all the Japanese firms and many foreign firms have pledged millions of dollars towards the relief fund.
Ben Adams
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