Japan’s Pharma industry

Japan’s pharmaceutical market is the third largest globally:

• USA: US$ 425 billion (2020)
• Europe: US$ 200 billion (2020)
• Japan: US$ 150 billion (2020)

Japan’s pharma industry includes many different segments from 

• traditional pharma companies (including the 15 largest are listed below),
• new entrants (eg brewery companies, electrical conglomerates, chemical conglomerates, rubber companies…. entering the life science sector)
• pharma manufacturing, contract cell manufacturers (eg FujiFilm)
• ventures (eg cell therapy, regenerative medicine sectors)
• medical equipment (eg Olympus)
• and other sectors

For our business development and M&A work we are continuously developing a large proprietary data base of Japan’s pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment, and related industries, research institutions, ventures, venture funds, and industry associations.

Our platform includes on the order of 

• 110 Japanese pharmaceutical companies (far beyond the top 15 listed below, and including a long tail of small and mid-sized pharma companies and ventures), 
• 230 Japanese companies in the regenerative medicine, cell therapy sector
• data base of pharma organizations, research centers, research parks, venture funds, research organizations and more

Ranking depends on criteria and varies year by year:

1. Chugai (Hoffmann-La Roche holds 61.16% of shares excluding treasury stock, 59.89% of outstanding shares) sales US$ 5.2 billion (2022)
2. Takeda US$ 5 billion
3. Eisai US$ 4 billion
4. Astellas US$ 3.8 billion
5. Otsuka Holdings US$ 3.6 billion
6. Daiichi Sankyo US$ 3.2 billion
7. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma (absorbed by Mitsubishi Chemical) US$ 2.7 billion
8. Sawai Pharmaceutical US$ 2 billion
9. Kyowa Hakko Kirin US$ 1.8 billion
10. Shionogi US$ 1.6 billion
11. Santen Pharma US$ 1.5 billion
12. Ono Pharma US$ 1.3 billion
13. Nippon Shinyaku US$ 1.2 billion
14. Sumitomo Pharma (was Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma) US$ 1.1 billion
15. Mochida Pharma US$ 1 billion

In addition to the traditional pharma companies (about 110), there are foreign pharma companies (including Novartis, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, BAYER and many more), new entrants – eg industrial companies diversifying or pivoting into life sciences, ventures including University spin-outs and more.