History of Chugai Pharmaceutical

Understanding Chugai’s history that fostered the business philosophy “Innovation all for the patients”

5. Alliance with Roche / Strategic alliance to increase competitiveness and become a Top Pharmaceutical Company

Seeking to benefit patients globally and accelerate innovation, in 2002 Chugai embarked on a strategic alliance with Roche, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. From this alliance emerged a unique business model that leveraged the strengths of both companies. This model enabled us to in-license Roche products that had already been approved overseas, and to utilize Roche’s cutting-edge expertise and infrastructure to expand our own value contribution. Subsequently, we transformed our revenue structure by reorganizing our business operations, research laboratories and plants.

Point1:  No change in the company name or representatives. Successful new business model of remaining listed and operating independently.

In December 2001, Chugai Pharmaceutical entered into a strategic alliance with Roche. And the following year in October 2002, the strategic alliance gave Roche a majority stake in Chugai, and Chugai became a member of the Roche Group. However, there was no change in the name or representatives as is typical in mergers, and it was agreed that Chugai would remain listed and maintain management independence. As a result, Chugai is not only able to take advantage of synergies with Roche in terms of both sales and development, but also able to make business decisions on its own.

Point2:  Synergies expand the strengths of both parties.

Roche is one of the world’s foremost research and development companies, and a leader in the field of biopharmaceuticals in particular. The alliance started with a meeting of minds among top managements. Its most notable feature is a completely new business model that takes the form of a network among Roche (Switzerland), Genentech (US) and Chugai (Japan) as the Roche Group, in which Chugai continues to manage itself autonomous as a listed company. Ten years later, the alliance was already generating strong synergies, with growth of 1.6 times in net sales and more than 2 times in operating income at Chugai.

Point3:  No.1 in Japan in the oncology field. Roche’s products make a major contribution.

With the addition of Roche’s anticancer drugs to its product lineup, Chugai has maintained the top share of the oncology field in Japan since 2008. Chugai provides innovative pharmaceuticals and services with the aim of achieving cancer treatment that lets patients confront their disease with hope.

Point4:  Fostering world-class antibody engineering technologies and mid-size molecule drug discovery technologies

Our alliance with Roche has further stabilized our revenue base by allowing us to exclusively sell Roche products in Japan and to expand our own products globally through Roche’s network. This has also had a positive impact on research and development. This is evident in our world-class antibody engineering technologies and mid-size molecule drug discovery technologies.

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History of Chugai Pharmaceutical

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