Singapore, Dec 1, 2008: Japanese pharmaceutical company, Daiichi Sankyo, has established its own subsidiary in Ireland. As part of this effort, 14 employees from the cardio-metabolic sales force at Merck Serono are being transferred to Daiichi.

 

The company will be called Daichii Sankyo Ireland with its headquarters in Dublin. In addition to the osteoporosis medication, ‘Evista’, the subsidiary will market the anti-hypertensive product ‘Cardicor’ and ‘Emcor’ for the treatment of angina pectoris. The company will also sell the diabetes drug ‘Glucophage’ as part of a co-promotion agreement with Merck Serono.

 

“Entering the market in Ireland is an important step in our effort to expand European presence. By setting up the Irish subsidiary and integrating the personnel of Merck Serono in Ireland, we are laying the foundation for the successful marketing of our future products in this country as well,” said Mr Reinhard Bauer, CEO, Daiichi Sankyo (Europe).

 

This is the third such agreement between Daiichi Sankyo and Merck Serono this year. In Germany, the Japanese pharmaceutical group integrated Merck Pharma GmbH’s sales force for primary-care physicians in August. In Turkey, Daiichi took over the sales force for Merck’s cardiometabolic products and the product family ‘Concor’ and ‘Glucophage’ to treat hypertension and diabetes respectively.

 

By 2015, Daiichi Sankyo intends to be one of Europe’s leading pharmaceutical companies. This strategy is designed to reverse the company’s current relationship of turnover. The company wishes to achieve about 60 percent of consolidated turnover outside Japan as a result of corresponding growth in sales.