Ajinomoto plans to market Salofalk in Japan

Published: 29-May-2008

Japanese food and flavourings company Ajinomoto, which has diversified its operations into pharma products, plans to acquire the Japanese development and marketing rights to Salofalk, a treatment for colon ulcers, from midsize German drugmaker Dr Falk Pharma.


Japanese food and flavourings company Ajinomoto, which has diversified its operations into pharma products, plans to acquire the Japanese development and marketing rights to Salofalk, a treatment for colon ulcers, from midsize German drugmaker Dr Falk Pharma.

Ajinomoto aims to test the drug's effectiveness and side-effects on Japanese subjects through clinical trials, and hopes to market it in Japan within three to five years. Ajinomoto hopes to earn ¥10bn ($95m; Euro 61m) in annual sales from Salofalk in three years on the Japanese market.

The two companies intend to expand their relationship to include joint r&d in digestive system treatments and mutual sharing of development rights.

Japanese sufferers of active ulcerative colitis number roughly 100,000 and the number is growing by about 5,000 a year. Salofalk needs to be taken only once a day, compared with three times daily for similar drugs.

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