was founded in 1921 as Red Line Thermometer Corporation by a group of medical scientists led by Dr.

Kitasato Shibasaburō Baron was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the infectious agent of bubonic plague in Hong Kong during an outbreak in 1894, almost simultaneously with Alexandre Yersin. Kitasato was nominat ...

to produce

medical thermometer A medical thermometer (also called clinical thermometer) is a device which is used for measuring human or animal body temperature. The tip of the thermometer is inserted into the mouth under the tongue (''oral'' or ''sub-lingual temperature''), ...

s in Japan. The company's first product was "Jintan Taionkei", the first Japanese-made thermometer available for sale, and it has since expanded into a medical devices manufacturer, producing medical disposables, cardiovascular systems and diabetes care products. In 1971, Terumo opened its first overseas office in the United States. Since then, the company has established subsidiaries in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(1971),

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

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

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The company later expanded its product range to include coronary stents and catheters, and acquired, among others, the cardiovascular specialty companies Vascutek and Microvention in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

Business segments and products

Terumo Corporation was organized into three business segments: * Cardiac & Vascular Business ** Intravascular ultrasound systems **

Catheter In medicine, a catheter (/ˈkæθətər/) is a thin tubing (material), tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgi ...

s for the treatment of coronary artery disease ** Drug-eluting stents ** Angiographic catheters ** Abdominal and peripheral endovascular coils **

Heart-lung machines Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a technique in which a machine temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery, maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen to the body. The CPB pump itself is often referred to as a he ...

** Oxygenators with integrated arterial filter ** Artificial vascular grafts * Blood Management Business ** Automated blood collection system ** Automated blood component processing devices ** Blood bag systems with leukocyte reduction filter ** Pathogen reduction technology systems ** Therapeutic apheresis systems ** Cell expansion systems * General Hospital Business ** IV catheters ** Infusion sets ** Syringe pumps ** Blood glucose monitoring systems ** Lancing devices for blood collection ** CAPD systems ** Digital thermometers ** Blood pressure monitors Terumo Penpol, the company's subsidiary in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its List of renamed Indian cities and states, former name Trivandrum (), is the Capital city, capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as ...

is the largest manufacturer of blood bags in India and supplies it to over 82 countries. A medical device facility called Terumo BCT is located in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

suburb of

Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...

, and , has been open and operating for over 20 years. A 2018 investigation into the release of

ethylene oxide Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sw ...

—a sterilizing agent for the blood diagnostic and treatment devices—into the atmosphere showed no increased cancer risk for those in the neighborhood, and the

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

will continue to allow up to of ethylene oxide to be released annually. However, Terumo said they release only per year and are working to reduce that amount.

Acquisitions

In July 1999 Terumo acquired the cardiovascular division of

3M Company 3M (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, U.S. health care, and consumer goods. The company produces over 60,000 products unde ...

, and established Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corp. in the USA. In 2001 the company made two more acquisitions: it acquired the home oxygen division of Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd., and establish Terumo Medical Care K.K., and Ikiken Co., Ltd. of Japan. In 2002 the company enters into the vascular prostheses business by acquiring UK-based Vascutek Ltd. Four years later, in 2006 the company ventured into a new field (endovascular coils for the treatment of cerebral aneurysms) by buying American company MicroVention Inc. The tissue heart valve division of Kohler Chemine GmbH was acquired in March 2007 and expanded Terumo's operations related to vascular prostheses. A year later the Japanese company Clinical Supply Co., Ltd. became a Terumo subsidiary and enhanced Terumo's interventional systems business in the field of radiotherapy. In March 2011, the company bought U.S. medical device company CaridianBCT for around $2.6 billion. It was the largest acquisition by a Japanese medical equipment maker at the time. The same year Harvest Technologies Corporation—point-of-care cell therapy—and Onset Medical Corp.—sheath technology designed for multiple, minimally-invasive clinical applications—was acquired. In 2018, after the acquisition of Bolton Medical, a merger with Vascutek Ltd. gave place to the new company Terumo Aortic, focusing on “expanding aortic treatment options.”

Business segments and products

Acquisitions

References

External links