Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is a Japanese

pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

company from Osaka, a subsidiary of

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation is a Japanese company formed in October 2005 from the merger of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation. The company is based in Tokyo and is one of the core Mitsubishi companies. History On December 4, 2021, the compan ...

. was formed in 2001 from the merger of Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals and Welfide Corporation. On October 1, 2007 Tanabe Seiyaku Co., Ltd. merged with Mitsubishi Pharma to form Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. Originally founded in 1678, Mitsubishi Tanabe considers itself as one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma is a member of the

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG holds assets of around US$3.1 trillion as of 2016 and is one of the "Three Great Houses" of the Mitsubishi Group alongside Mitsubishi Corpor ...

(MUFJ)

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...

Products

Mitsubishi-Tanabe Pharmaceuticals developed the first

BET inhibitor BET inhibitors are a class of drugs that reversibly bind the bromodomains of Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal motif (BET) proteins BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, and BRDT, and prevent protein-protein interaction between BET proteins and acetylated histones and ...

molecules. In August 2014, the company announced three-year research collaboration agreement with

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includin ...

diabetic nephropathy Diabetic nephropathy, also known as diabetic kidney disease, is the chronic loss of kidney function occurring in those with diabetes mellitus. Diabetic nephropathy is the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease ...

, to replace dialysis or kidney transplantation. An

intravenous Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...

treatment of Mitsubishi Tanabe is Radicava (edaravone) which has the goal to slow the decline of physical function in patients with

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(ALS) and was approved by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

in 2017. The U.S. American branch of Mitsubishi Tanabe created a locator for healthcare and infusion centers. Mitsubishe Tanabe has also an

orally disintegrating tablet An orally disintegrating tablet or orally dissolving tablet (ODT) is a drug dosage form available for a limited range of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications. ODTs differ from traditional tablets in that they are designed to be d ...

for ALS with Exservan (

riluzole Riluzole is a medication used to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other motor neuron diseases. Riluzole delays the onset of ventilator-dependence or tracheostomy in some people and may increase survival by two to three months. Riluzole is ...

Ownership history

In 1604, Tanabeya Matazaemon is granted a license by

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

for trade in herbal medicines with

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

and

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

. In 1901, ''Motosaburo Tanabe, the Twelfth'' established a

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, which incorporated in 1921 as Motosaburo Tanabe Shoten. In 1921, Nippon Tar Industries was established. In 1940, Takeda Kasei Co., Ltd. was established by Chobei Takeda & Co., Ltd. (present-day

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followin ...

) and Nippon Kasei Chemical Co. Ltd. (present-day

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation , or MCC, is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. It is a Japanese corporation, that merged with Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation in 2005 to create Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. Mitsubishi Chemical is the largest ...

) and built its first plant in Higashi-Yoshitomi-mura,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

. In 1943, Motosaburo Tanabe Shoten, changed its name to Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. In 1946, Takeda Kasei Co., Ltd. changed its name to Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. In 1949, Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. listed on Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges. In 1950, The Blood Plasma Corporation of Japan was established with head office and plant in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. The founders included war criminals such as Kitano Masaji who performed torture and experimentations on humans in the Japanese military's notorious

Unit 731 , short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentatio ...

during World War II. These crimes were recognized by the UN as extreme "crimes against humanity". In 1952, Nippon Tar Industries became Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd. In 1964, Blood Plasma Corporation changed its name to Green Cross Corporation. In 1998, Green Cross Corporation was acquired by Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical. In 2000, Green Cross Corporation changing its name to Welfide Corporation. In 1981, Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd. established a business alliance with Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co. In 1984, Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd. changed its name to

following the merger with Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co., Ltd. In 1999, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Tokyo Tanabe Pharmaceuticals Co. merged formally and formed Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to take over the combined pharmaceutical operations of the two companies. In 2001, Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals and Welfide Corporation merged to establish Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. In October 2005, Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation joined again with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation to create

. In July, 2017, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma acquired Neuroderm for $1.1 billion. On 27 February 2020, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and is now described as a member of the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/e/release/nr/2020/pdf/e_MTPC200226.pdf

References

External links

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma
* {{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of Japan Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Japanese companies established in 2007 Pharmaceutical companies established in 2007 Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Life sciences industry Mitsubishi companies Midori-kai Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings