New form for Yamanouchi formulation

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical has said that it will integrate its domestic formulation facilities on 1 April, 2005, into a separate commercial entity.

The process has been made possible by Japan's amended Pharmaceutical Affairs Law which will take effect in 2005 will for the first time allow drug companies to outsource the entire production process to third parties.

As part of this effort, it will spin off its Yaizu and Nishine plants and merge them with its production subsidiary Tohoku Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical and Yamanouchi Tokai Business to create a new formulation production subsidiary.

Yamanouchi is in the midst of a major restucturing drive and closed two domestic formulation facilities - the Azusawa and Kaisei plants - in March 2002. It has also unveiled plans to close the formulation plant of Taiwan Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical in June 2004.

The Yaizu plant started operation in 1968 and manufactures Yamanouchi's major pharmaceutical preparations (tablets, capsules and injectables), such as the treatment for gastric ulcers and gastritis Gaster (famotidine). Part of its production and maintenance activities have been contracted out to Yamanouchi Tokai Business.

Meantime, the Nishine plant and Tohoku Yamanouchi have been manufacturing products such as the treatment for the functional symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia Harnal (tamsulosin) and the antihypertensive Hypoca (barnidipine HCl).