ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has launched Comprehensive Support Service that offers comprehensive functions needed when overseas pharmaceutical companies want to enter the Japanese market, doing so through its wholly owned subsidiary A2 Healthcare Corporation (headquartered in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Hitoshi Kamiya, President & CEO; hereinafter "A2 Healthcare") and ITC Venture Partners, Inc. (headquartered in California, USA; Suguru Yamaryo, President & CEO; hereinafter "IVP").

Currently, overseas pharmaceutical companies shy away from the Japanese market due to Japan’s strict pharmaceutical regulations, the complexity of clinical trial-related procedures, and a drug pricing system that is different from that in Europe and the United States, leading to expanding “drug loss” as no new drugs come in. Moreover, more than half of the domestically unapproved drugs, which have been approved in the West but not in Japan, are developed by emerging overseas biopharmaceutical companies,^*1 so in order to eliminate drug loss, there is a need for mechanisms to motivate overseas companies to develop drugs in Japan.

ITOCHU is engaged in multifaceted initiatives to eliminate "drug loss," centering on A2 Healthcare that has been entrusted with a large number of sponsor- and investigator-initiated clinical trials in various fields and diseases. In March 2024, the Boston branch was established in the United States to support overseas pharmaceutical companies in the development of new drugs in Japan.^*2 Moreover, IVP, which is expanding its business in Silicon Valley, offers a consulting service that helps Japanese companies procure licenses from North American pharmaceutical companies,^*3 and already has an excellent track record.

In recent times, ITOCHU has been working through A2 Healthcare and IVP to support overseas pharmaceutical companies entering the Japanese market. More concretely, IVP uses networks of overseas venture capital (VC) firms and startups to explore new drug candidates (seeds), while A2 Healthcare acts as a contact point for overseas pharmaceutical companies, thereby supporting all phases of introducing new drugs in Japan. Catering to various treatment approaches and development needs, they work together with a variety of partner companies, including pharmaceutical wholesalers, contract manufacturing organizations (CMO), contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO), and non-clinical contract research organizations (CRO), to offer everything from market surveys to help with the pharmaceutical approval process, manufacturing, and logistics after entering the market.

ITOCHU has established its The Brand-New Deal: Profit Opportunities are Shifting Downstream management policy and is developing its business areas by tracking the needs of sellers, buyers and consumers as they diversify along with the changes in society and by pioneering and transforming its businesses, beginning with its downstream operations. This initiative makes possible support optimized to the characteristics of different treatment approaches as they become more complex, and it is hoped that it will accelerate introduction of new drugs in all kinds of disease fields, expanding the treatment options of patients. ITOCHU will continue to put its efforts into solving the social issues of "drug loss" and contribute to society by improving healthcare.