Teva and Kowa established Teva-Kowa Pharma back in September 2008. The joint venture has since become one of the top five generics players in Japan, with sales of approximately US$200 million in 2010.

Mr Shlomo Yanai, President and CEO of Teva, commenting on the move said, ‘we are happy to have reached this agreement to bring all our Japanese operations under Teva’s full control and ownership. Full ownership of all our activities including Taiyo will allow us to better grow our business in Japan.’ ‘With this stronger platform, Teva will be in a better position to further drive penetration of high quality generic pharmaceuticals in Japan and make better health care accessible to the Japanese people.’

The Israeli generics giant completed the acquisition of Taiyo in July 2011 at a cost of US$934 million. Taiyo is the third largest generics manufacturer in Japan with sales of approximately US$530 million in 2010.

With this latest transaction, Teva’s operations in Japan are expected to generate annual sales in excess of US$800 million, getting close to its goal of US$1 billion worth of sales in Japan by 2015.

Japan is currently the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, surpassed only by the US and was valued at US$96 billion in 2010. However, only around 23% of its prescription drug sales (by volume) are generics [1]. Due to impending patent expiries, the ageing population and government initiatives, which hope to increase the generics volume to 30% by 2012, there are still quite some opportunities for generics manufacturers in Japan. The generics market was valued at US$7.3 billion in 2009 and is expected to be worth US$10 billion by the end of 2013 [2].

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References

1. GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Japan’s generics sector set to grow [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2011 October 7]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Generics/General/Japan-s-generics-sector-set-to-grow

2. GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Teva expands in Japan – buying generic’s maker Taiyo [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2011 October 7]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Pharma-News/Teva-expands-in-Japan-buying-generic-s-maker-Taiyo