Vol. 4: The First Otsuka Media Exchange in Tokushima

Read the full article including photos at 

https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/company/globalnews/2013/0307_01.html

On March 7th, 2013, the first Otsuka Media Exchange was held at Tokushima, Japan, the origin of Otsuka just an hour south by plane from Tokyo.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical President & Representative Director, Taro Iwamoto, Ph.D. presented to the media Otsuka’s achievements over the past 3 years. He spoke about the main business areas including Central Nervous System, cardio-renal area, oncology and ophthalmology. The presentation was entitled “all for creativity”, and demonstrated Otsuka’s spirit of creativity from tip to toe.

Dr. Iwamoto pointed out that there were 2 specific types of ‘innovations’ during his presentation which showed exactly what Otsuka’s pharmaceutical business aims to offer.

First, it is innovation through “new indication in new category”, which is about the ability to take our new first-in-class-in-the-world drugs and develop them into altogether different therapeutic categories. Second, it is innovation through “prevention of disease relapses” by offering compliance-management in central nervous disorders.

Director of Fellow Qs' Research Institute, Tetsuro Kikuchi, Ph.D., talked about Otsuka’s demanding and “unsmooth” research style in the course of searching for neuropsychiatric drugs.

“Otsuka’s drug discovery does not rely on computer algorithms, but relies heavily on each and every researcher’s inspiration and his or her passion to follow through that belief - it is that spirit of never-giving-up that leads to our success” says Kikuchi.

Ulf Wiinberg, the CEO of Lundbeck, one of Otsuka’s global partners, was a guest speaker. He highlighted that Otsuka-Lundbeck partnership is one of the largest ever seen in the field of Central Nervous System and hence the enormous promise that the alliance holds for the patients.

Dr. Iwamoto noted Otsuka’s alliances are ‘horizontal collaborations’, and is the single most important factor in partnerships. Both partners should be able to contribute strengths to their mutual benefits and at times progress through friendly rivalry.

There was also a surprise performance by Japanese calligraphy artist, Souun Takeda. Master calligrapher Takeda created artwork featuring two large Japanese characters, “Sou” and “Jitsu”.

The work of art was intended to reflect Otsuka’s motto. “Sou” translates to “creation” and “Jitsu”, the process of taking an idea and turning it into reality.

The two-story high Tomato Tree stands prominently at the Tokushima Institute which was the setting where nearly fifty international and domestic journalists to hear and discuss the growth of Otsuka Pharmaceutical’s business.