Annual Report 2009 - Daiichi Sankyo

SALES AND MARKETING OPERATIONS
Prescription Drug Business
Japan
Market Trends
In fiscal 2008, the Japanese prescription drug market expanded
due to the growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases and progressive
demographic graying, despite the impact of various negative
factors—including an additional change in prescription format
designed to encourage the use of generic drugs, an increased
number of hospitals applying the diagnosis procedure combination
(DPC) reimbursement system, and other intensified government
efforts to restrain drug-related expenditures through systemic
reforms as well as other factors such as drug price revision under
the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. The market had a
noteworthy boost from the increasing use of innovative pharmaceuticals
such as antibody drugs. Amid these conditions, Daiichi
Sankyo’s domestic net sales of prescription drugs amounted to
¥406.7 billion, down 4.8% from the fiscal 2007 level. Although
sales of flagship products centering on Olmetec grew, overall
sales decreased due to factors such as lower sales of long-selling
products and the transfer of marketing rights for Zantac and
Coversyl.
Evolution of the MR Crosswise System
Daiichi Sankyo’s MR Crosswise system (“MR” refers to marketing
representatives, or sales representatives) is designed to effectively
provide medical professionals with information on each therapeutic
area based on collaboration between two types of sales representatives.
Under this system, some sales representatives maintain
high levels of specialized knowledge in therapeutic areas such as
cardiovascular diseases and oncology, while other sales representatives
are responsible for understanding and meeting the special
needs of individual medical facilities. The first system of its type in
Japan, the MR Crosswise structure organically integrates Daiichi
Sankyo’s sales force, which is among the biggest in Japan, to create
an organization capable of providing medical professionals
with high-quality information in a timely manner. Through this
structure, the Company’s sales representatives have been earning
high overall ratings from outside evaluation institutions.
To meet the increasingly diverse needs of medical institutions,
Daiichi Sankyo will continue to promote the further evolution of the
MR Crosswise system, and shift from the conventional one-sided
provision of information to a more bilateral approach involving
additional efforts to elicit and respond to the ideas of medical
professionals.
Performance of Principal Products
Cardiovascular Diseases: Angiotensin II receptor blockers
(ARBs) are a growing sector of the Japanese drug market, and
sales of our flagship antihypertensive agent Olmetec (generic
name Olmesartan) grew more than those of any other single ARB
product. Olmetec sales jumped 16.6% over the fiscal 2007 level,
to ¥64.4 billion, despite a price reduction due to Japan’s drug
price system revision, in response to ARB market expansion.
Conditions in the ARB market continue to be harsh due to the
entry of competitors as well as fixed-dose combination antihypertensive
agents, but Olmetec is considered to be a best-in-class
product owing to its strong efficacy in reducing blood pressure
and superior performance in protecting internal organs. In view of
these benefits, the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan selected
Olmetec as the winner of its Award for Drug Research and
Development in 2008. To further increase the value of Olmetec,
we will generate additional scientific evidence related to its performance
and contribute to the health of even more patients in the
future.
Net Sales of Key Products (¥ billion)
80
60
Olmetec
Antihypertensive (ARB)
55.2
64.4
Mevalotin
Antihyperlipidemic agent
75.2
67.8
61.6
Cravit
Synthetic antibacterial agent
50.7 50.2 46.7 47.4 43.0
29.0 30.9 33.6 38.7 34.7 31.5 31.2 28.3
Loxonin
Anti-inflammatory analgesic
Omnipaque
Contrast agent
40
42.2
20
25.6
0
(FY) 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008
24
Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. Annual Report 2009