Japanese Pharmaceuticals in the World International Comparison of Financial Statements

Naoya Fujihara, Takahito Kushi, Mitsuaki Yamamoto and Shuji Onozuka

No.23 : October 2004

In this study, financial data of Japanese and foreign companies were examined by nationality and company size to analyze how performance at pharmaceutical companies has changed over a 10-year period.

While the domestic market has been restricted to slight growth for 10 years, Japanese pharmaceutical companies have increased their sales by proactively promoting overseas development. In addition, they have improved both the amount of operating profit and the ratio of operating profit to sales by reducing costs. Furthermore, by strengthening R&D investment, they have created new medicines, some of which have become immensely successful. However, the disparity in sales volume compared to foreign companies has been widening, and the profitability of Japanese firms still lags behind. Further, the gap in the amount of R&D budget between Japanese and foreign firms has increased, which seems likely to create a large disadvantage in the generation of new drugs and the product pipeline.

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