Sanjiu relocates herbal drug manufacture to China

Published: 1-Sep-2005


China's largest drug maker, Sanjiu Enterprise Group, aims to expand its activities via its Japanese unit, Sanjiuhonsoubou Medical & Pharmaceutical, but will transfer production of herbal medicine for sale in Japan to China in order to lower costs. The Japanese unit has recently established a wholesaler in China to import drugs made by Japanese companies.

Sanjiuhonsoubou took over Toa Seiyaku, a Toyama-based firm licensed to produce Chinese herbal medicine, in 2003. Toa has since produced 18 drugs for sale under the Sanjiu brand in Japan using domestically sourced ingredients. Drug production costs in China are estimated to be less than half those in Japan, and the bottling and packaging work now performed by Toa is to be relocated to China.

Sanjiuhonsoubou has been expanding its sales in Japan, and its sales of Chinese herbal medicines there are projected to reach ¥1bn (€7,429) in fiscal 2005 from ¥320m (€2.4m) in 2004.

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