Fujifilm sets healthcare as one of its key business field and pursues the growth strategy. Among others, in the field of biotherapeutics, Fujifilm has been expanding its business in areas such as biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing, for which Fujifilm has been actively investing in facilities, and regenerative medicine including drug discovery support providing iPS cell and cell culture media, which are necessary for research and development of new medicine.
Furthermore, in order to strengthen the research and development in the field of biotherapeutics, Fujifilm has established “Bio Science & Engineering Laboratories” in Japan and the US, where it has integrated basic research through production process development in such field. Fujifilm has been working on researches including bio-informatics such as analysis of cellular metabolism and gene expression, cell-engineering such as genome editing technology, automation technology for cell manufacturing and new technology for drug discovery support using cell.
From now on, Fujifilm will direct more attention to the field of biotherapeutics, where the needs of society are high and the market is expected to keep growing in the future. In addition to accelerating the growth in the biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business through the active investment, Fujifilm will expand the regenerative medicine business with its focus on cell and cell culture media, where the strength of Fujifilm is maximized, by reinforcing the drug discovery support business. Furthermore, Fujifilm will conduct effective R&D in collaboration with partners and promote contract development and manufacturing business in cell therapeutics medical field, where the market is emerging and significant growth is expected, to expand the regenerative medicine business.
History of Regenerative Medicine Business
| year | Content |
|---|---|
| 2013 |
FUJIFILM Corporation established its Regenerative Medicine Research Laboratories (current Bio Science and Engineering Laboratory) and the Regenerative Medicine Business Development Office (current Regenerative Medicine Business Division). |
| 2015 | Transformed Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (current FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc. (FCDI)), a leading US company in the development and manufacture of iPSCs, into a wholly owned subsidiary of FUJIFILM Holdings. Entered the drug discovery support business. |
| 2017 |
Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. (current FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation (FFWK)), a leading company in cell culture medium—essential in regenerative medicine, became a consolidated subsidiary of FUJIFILM Holdings. |
| 2018 |
Irvine Scientific Sales Company, Inc. (current FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, Inc. (FISI)) and IS JAPAN CO., LTD. (current FUJIFILM Wako Pure ChemicalCorporation (FFWK)), leading companies of cell culture media, became consolidated subsidiaries of FUJIFILM Holdings. |
Biopharmaceuticals are expected to be an effective treatment for unmet medical needs, thanks to their high efficacy and very few side effects. The Fujifilm Group is expanding its CDMO*1 business for biopharmaceuticals, utilizing its production and quality control techniques cultivated in the photographic film business. With this in mind, we are actively investing in major production plants and equipment in the US and UK owned by FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB) in order to increase production capacity. In August 2019, we also acquired Biogen (Denmark) Manufacturing ApS (current FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Denmark ApS), a subsidiary manufacturer of the major US biopharmaceutical company, Biogen Inc. Biogen (Denmark) Manufacturing ApS (current FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Denmark ApS) has an experience and a proven track record of providing biopharmaceuticals globally utilizing its mass production facilities. In addition to FDB’s small-tomedium- volume production facilities, owning Biogen’s mass production facility has significantly increased our production capacity, enabling us to meet a wide range of needs from small to large quantities. We have also developed a high-performance and highly efficient fully integrated all-inclusive continuous production system that controls processes from culturing to purification for the first time in the biopharmaceutical CDMO industry. We will start a process development subcontract service using this system from autumn in 2019. By enhancing our biopharmaceutical production capacity and highly productive technologies, the Fujifilm Group continues to support the development of new drugs for the corporate customers who are aiming to address unmet medical needs.
- *1 CDMO: Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization. A company or organization that offers a subcontract service of development and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical production processes. As production of biopharmaceuticals requires advanced production technology and equipment, pharmaceutical companies worldwide are increasingly outsourcing process development and manufacturing.
- * This page contains some excerpts from the Sustainability Report.