Astellas Pharma has laid out the details of a new five-year plan which it hopes will lead to a 30% rise in earnings by March 2015.
The Japanese company, which last week announced its proposed $4.00 billion acquisition of OSI Pharmaceuticals, has set an operating profit target of 240 billion yen (around $2.70 billion) for the year to March 2015, up from 186.40 billion yen for the last fiscal year. Revenues are forecast to reach 1.1 trillion yen, up 13% from the year ended March 2010.
The Tokyo-headquartered firm is acting to combat the effects of generic competiton to its biggest earners, namely the immunosuppressant Prograf (tacrolimus) and Harnal (tamsulosin) for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Astellas says it will concentrate on becoming a “global category leader” in three areas, the first being urology, with Vesicare (solifenacin) for overactive bladder and its follow-up mirabegron and Harnal promotion Harnal in regions other than the USA.
In the field of transplantation, Astellas says it will continue to maximise the existing Prograf business and accelerate development of compounds in the pipeline, while thirdly, the company wants to be a major player in oncology, which will be helped by the OSI deal.
Astellas will further strengthen its own sales network in emerging markets and is keen in particular to capture the potential of China. The company hopes to double turnover there over the next five years to over 60 billion yen, and will number the number of sales reps it has there to about 600.
