Daiichi Sankyo Company, Japan, has posted strong growth in bottom line during the year ended March 2013 to ¥66.6 billion from ¥10.4 billion in the previous year. The company provided ¥39.9 billion in the previous year related to provisions made by Ranbaxy for a settlement with the US Department of Justice. Its consolidate net sales increased by 6.3 per cent to ¥998 billion from ¥939 billion due to higher sales in Japan of the Alzheimer's disease treatment Memary and Nexium, a treatment for esophagitis and other conditions, together with revenue contributions of prasugrel, a treatment of acute coronary syndrome.

The company's R&D expenditure declined by 1.1 per cent to ¥183 billion from ¥185 billion. This worked out to 18.3 per cent of its net sales as against 19.7 per cent in the previous year. Its R&D is focused on cardiovascular-metabolic, oncology and frontier medicine as priority fields for the development of innovative drugs.

Its net sales in Japan increased by 7.9 per cent to ¥528.6 billion. Its net sales of prescription drugs in Japan increased by 9.6 per cent to ¥460 billion. It launched Ranmark, a treatment for bone complications stemming from multiple myeloma or bone metastases from solid tumors, in April 2012. In addition, the launch of Tenelia, an inhibitor for type 2 diabetes mellitus, in September 2012 helped to strengthen the Group's diabetes franchise. Its domestic vaccine business continued to expand as well and its subsidiary Japan Vaccine Co commenced operations in July 2012. The company's royalty income and overseas exports declined by 12.4 per cent ¥18.6 billion.

The company's net sales in North America moved up only by 3 per cent to ¥182 billion. Net sales in Dollar terms declined by 2 per cent to US$2,200 million. Sales of Azor, Tribenzor and Welchol increased, but sales of Benicar/Benicar HCT and Venofer declined. Its European sales declined by 10.1 per cent to ¥60.6 billion and the same in local currency terms fell by 8.7 per cent to €560 million. In other regions, net sales rose by 42.3 per cent to ¥40.9 billion. Sales of Olmesartan and Cravit increased in China.

Ranbaxy Group reported net sales of ¥185.4 billion, a growth of 5.7 per cent, on account of generic hypercholesteolemia treatment Atorvastatin after its launch in December 2011 and from generic anti-diabetic agent Pioglitazone, which Ranbaxy launched in the US during August 2012. In November 2012, Ranbaxy launched Absorica, a treatment for recalcitrant acne, in the US market. Further, Ranabxy continued to develop the proprietary malaria treatment Synriam in markets across Southeast Asia and Africa.

The company has finalised a policy of reorganizing its three domestic supply chain subsidiaries viz., Daiichi Sankyo Propharma Co Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Chemical Pharma Co Ltd and Daiichi Sankyo Logistics Co Ltd into two companies by April 2015. One of these companies will supply drug precursors and active ingredients, and the other will provide drug formulation, packaging and related logistics functions. As part of this reorganization, the Odawara plants of Daiichi Sankyo Propharma and Daiichi Sankyo Chemical Pharma were integrated into a single facility in April 2-13.