Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. were merged last week by combining operations into a new corporation named Astellas Pharma Inc. The merged company ranks among the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies. In the US, Astellas will operate commercially under the name Astellas Pharma US, Inc. with headquarters located in Deerfield, Ill., an official release said here.

These two Japanese pharmaceutical organizations, founded in 1894 and 1923 respectively, have complementary health care expertise, products, practices and business models. This compatibility allows the newly formed Astellas Pharma US, Inc. to place greater emphasis on product discovery and development in its current therapeutic areas -immunology, infectious disease, dermatology, urology and cardiovascular disease.

Makoto Nishimura, chairman and CEO of Astellas Pharma US, Inc said, "We will continue to focus our efforts on developing breakthrough pharmaceutical products that meet the greatest unmet medical needs of patients."

According to the release, Astellas' focus will be on developing breakthrough products in the areas of immunology, infectious disease, dermatology, urology and cardiovascular disease while continuing to explore unmet needs in other areas. The company will continue to support its mainstay, prescription products including Prograf for the prevention and treatment of organ rejection after liver and kidney transplants, VESIcare for the treatment of overactive bladder, Protopic, for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, Adenoscan a pharmacologic stress agent, AmBisome for the treatment of invasive fungal infections, and Flomax, for the treatment of functional symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. In May, Mycamine will be the first product launched under the Astellas name for the treatment of candida fungal infections.

The Astellas worldwide headquarters is located in Tokyo. Astellas' North American operations will be based in Chicago, Ill., with European regional offices based in London, UK. Additional Asian operations are located in China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.