Drugmakers largely unscathed by Japanese quake

Takeda, Japan’s biggest drugmaker by sales, told the Dow Jones Newswire​ that its production plants in Tokyo, Osaka and Hikari had not suffered major damage and that it is working to ascertain the safety of its employees.

This was echoed by Daiichi Sankyo who told the Wall Street Journal that early indications are that all of its employees are safe and that its manufacturing facilities have escaped damage.

Eisai in contract report that some of its Tokyo-area units have been damaged and that it is working to account for employees. Other Japanese drugmakers like Astellas and Chugai are still assessing damage.

Multinationals​

International drugmakers have also started to assess to the situation with initial reports also indicating that most have major damage.

An AstraZeneca spokesman told in-Pharmatechnologist.com that all staff have now been accounted for, including field-based employees in Sendai those at its clinical development site in Osaka.

He added that: “To date, our major facilities, including our manufacturing and packaging site in Maihara, in Shiga prefecture, have been largely unaffected by the quake​.”

A GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) spokeswoman told in-Pharmatechnologist.com that, while the firm is still assessing the situation, “to date we have had no reported injuries and hope this remains the case.

“Our offices in Tokyo appear to be largely unaffected though there are reports of some minor damage to our regional office in Sendai and our Imaichi plant that will require suspension of operations for a few days."​

Similar releases have been issued by other internationals operating in Japan, with Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Teva reporting that employees have been accounted for and operations are continuing as normal.

Eli Lilly, whose main Japanese production operations are in Kobe, said it is still in the process of accounting for its employees.

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk, who’s manufacturing plant is in Koriyama 60 kilometres from the Fukushima nuclear plant that was rocked by an explosion on Saturday, also said that operations have not been affected.