Last updated: Sep. 28, 2021
Leveraging advanced technology,
we create high-quality products
to contribute to full and healthy lives.
Under its mission of contribute
to the realization of healthy
and enriched lifestyles for all people,
the Medical Business provides the pharmaceutical sciences sector
with a diverse range of products and services.
SEKISUI MEDICAL was formed through the merger of SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group’s Medical Business Division and Daiichi Pure Chemicals Co., Ltd., in 2008. This merger established a fully integrated supply chain from materials to sales. With the diagnostic reagent business as its foundation, the Medical Business has worked to build its business while successfully expanding its sales routes and product lineups through M&As. The Medical Business operates globally. The ratio of net sales accounted for by overseas business has grown from the 21% recorded in fiscal 2008 to 50% in fiscal 2015, since which time overseas sales have continued to grow steadily. The Medical Business will continue to accelerate business expansion in North America, Europe, China, and Asia, and will work to enhance its development systems as it targets the expansion of business domains by actively introducing new products.
Note: The main areas of the Life Science field, which were previously included in the High Performance Plastics segment, have been presented separately as the Medical Business segment since fiscal 2019 in an effort to grow these areas as a new divisional company candidate.
Supply chain expansion
Business expansion history
In Japan, the Medical Business will actively introduce new products. Meanwhile, overseas we will expand alliances with major companies and strengthen POC* in North America and Europe. We will also continue to expand our blood coagulation activities and enter new domains in China. In Asia management, we will work to position Veredus Laboratories, acquired under the previous medium-term plan, as the segment’s ASEAN base.
Focus Areas
* POC: Acronym for Point of Care; refers to timely onsite (clinics, etc.) diagnostics
Development and New Products
* Biomarker: Physiological indicators used to identify the presence and progression of a disease
Net sales composition by domain
Under the Medium-term Management Plan, we will undertake large capital investments targeting business expansion. In pharmaceutical and fine chemicals, we will acquire new product orders and steadily launch manufacturing processes, while strengthening partnerships between Japan and XenoTech in the United States in drug development solution activities. As far as enzymes are concerned, we will aim to expand our CDMO* business.
* Acronym for Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization: A business format that provides comprehensive services that extend from the development of formulations to the manufacture and commercial production of investigational new drugs
As the focus of therapeutic drug development shifts from conventional small molecule drugs to peptide drugs (middle-molecule), protein drugs (macromolecule), cellular medicine, and regenerative medicine, the Medical Business set out to bolster production equipment at a total of two major plants in Japan and overseas in August 2020 as a means of establishing a pharmaceutical ingredients supply system for a wide range of domains.
Net sales trends for new products
In fiscal 2020, the Medical Business recorded a full-year decline in sales and profit due to the impact of fewer outpatient lifestyle disease diagnostics as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily during the first half. Despite the slowdown in reagents sales due to the low incidence of influenza, however, during the second half the Medical Business recovered to a point at which operating income essentially reached the same level as the previous year. This recovery was due to a certain degree of improvement in the market, sales of COVID-19 reagents, and reductions in fixed costs. Meanwhile, despite this harsh environment, increased sales of new pharmaceutical ingredients helped the Pharmaceutical Sciences Business secure higher earnings.
Analysis of Operating Income
Under the assumption that market conditions will recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Medical Business will return to a growth trajectory by promoting increased sales of new products for which preparations were advanced during fiscal 2020. The Diagnostics Business holds an outlook for growth in the blood coagulation domain in China. The Pharmaceutical Sciences Business will work to increase sales of new pharmaceutical ingredients and accelerate growth of the CDMO business. Moreover, we will steadily drive enhancements to development as a focus item of the Medium-term Plan.
Clinical reagents for biochemical immunity, diabetes, blood coagulation, and infectious diseases, as well as development, manufacture, and sale of analyzers and vacuum blood collection tubes, among others
CP3000
Nanopia P-FDP
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
Drug development solution testing