Isao Teshirogi, chief executive of the company, which has invested in an antiviral for Covid-19 and novel antibiotics, said infectious disease treatments were a “very challenging business”, despite their importance. 

Teshirogi warned that an increasing number of companies were leaving infectious diseases behind to concentrate on relatively lucrative areas such as oncology or rare diseases. It can be hard to predict demand for infectious disease medicines and each treatment typically uses fewer drugs than are used in the management of a chronic condition. 

“Now’s the time for G7 countries to show leadership, to say, OK we lead the world in supporting the very capable antibiotics and short-term, acute phase antivirals,” Teshirogi said.

He added that, without support from wealthy countries, people in low and middle-income countries were likely to suffer disproportionately from a reduced investment in tackling infectious diseases. Pathogens resistant to existing antibiotics killed about 1.3mn people in 2019, a figure that forecasts suggest could rise to 10mn a year by 2050. 

Shionogi’s call for more global action on infectious diseases comes after the company devoted a large part of its resources and personnel to develop a treatment and vaccine for Covid-19 over the past three years.

Some analysts have questioned the strategy since the group’s outlook is uncertain. It has a thin pipeline of drugs under development and an earnings structure that is heavily dependent on royalty income from HIV drugs. Its shares have declined 1.5 per cent in the last five years, while the Nikkei 225 Index has gained more than 40 per cent over the same period.

For the fiscal year to March next year, the company expects to generate sales of ¥105bn ($720mn) — roughly a quarter of its expected annual revenue — from its Covid franchise. In the first quarter, it reported sales of just ¥6bn from its Covid pill Xocova, prompting analysts to criticise its full-year target as too bullish.

Kazuaki Hashiguchi, analyst at Daiwa Securities, said that, in light of rivals’ withdrawal from infectious disease research, the social value of the company’s activities had increased. But he warned it was proving difficult for the company to turn that into financial returns. 

“Shionogi does have a point and it’s understandable for them to argue that infectious diseases are very important and more resources should be distributed to this area,” Hashiguchi said. “But whether there is a social consensus for that is debatable.” 

Policymakers in the US, EU and UK are looking at ways to increase investment in antibiotics. But Teshirogi said he was “surprised and disappointed” that the US had not yet passed its Pasteur Act. The legislation is designed to encourage investment in new antibiotics and tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance. 

“To me, the first impression was, what’s wrong with the US?” Teshirogi said.

He added that the US should be willing to lead the world with a so-called “pull incentive” that tackles problems with the financial returns on new antibiotics.

A pull incentive would address the challenges presented by the traditional financial model that rewards drugmakers according to the volume of any newly developed drug sold. That model is problematic because clinicians should use any newly-developed antibiotics as sparingly as possible to manage the risk that new drugs will generate yet more resistant bugs.

However, Teshirogi praised the UK’s “world leading” subscription model for antibiotics, which the country’s health service is planning to expand to pay drugmakers up to £20mn a year per new drug. The scheme pays the same sum no matter how many or few antibiotics are sold. Shionogi participated in the pilot.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Kana Inagaki

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed on Tuesday that more than 1mn tonnes of treated water would be discharged from the plant, a process that is expected to take decades and is strongly opposed by local fishermen concerned about reputational damage.

The move had been expected after a two-year review by the International Atomic Energy Agency last month found Japan’s plan to release the water from the plant in the north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima was consistent with international safety standards. 

But Tokyo timed the release to avoid sparking fresh tensions that might jeopardise a recent rapprochement with neighbouring South Korea.

People with knowledge of the discussions said Japan held off from releasing the water until after a trilateral summit at Camp David last week, where it agreed with the US and South Korea to deepen security ties to counter an increasingly assertive China.

On Tuesday, the South Korean government said it did not see any scientific or technical issues with the water release plans.

However, there remains strong public opposition in Japan and neighbouring countries, prompted by fears of possible contamination of ocean water and seafood.

Beijing, which according to Japanese media began blanket radiation testing of seafood imports from Japan last month, reiterated on Tuesday that it would take “all steps necessary” to protect food safety.

The Chinese foreign ministry also summoned Japan’s ambassador to protest against the move.

“The ocean sustains humanity. It is not a sewer for Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water. China strongly urges Japan to stop its wrongdoing,” said ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin. “Japan is putting its selfish interests above the long-term wellbeing of the entire humanity.”

John Lee, Hong Kong’s leader, said after Tokyo’s announcement on Tuesday that the Chinese territory strongly opposed a discharge plan, which he claimed disregarded risks to food safety. “It is an irresponsible move which forcibly imposes one’s problem on to others,” he added.

Hong Kong said it would ban aquatic products from Tokyo and nine Japanese prefectures from Thursday. The ban will cover live, frozen, chilled and dried seafood products as well as sea salt and seaweed.

The Chinese territory of Macau also announced a ban on food products including seafood products from the same Japanese areas.

The Japanese consulate in Hong Kong said the ban was “extremely regrettable”. It dismissed claims Tokyo was being irresponsible, saying it had been considering the plans for six years and that these had been subject to a two-year review by the IAEA.

Seoul said it would be able to use government hotlines to ask Tokyo to stop discharging radioactive water if necessary.

“We will do our best to ensure that it is processed according to objective international standards,” foreign minister Park Jin told YTN radio.

But South Korean opposition parties are preparing to hold candlelight vigils and rallies to protest against the water release. “We strongly condemn Japan’s outrageous decision,” said Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition party leader, describing it as an “atrocity”.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant’s nuclear reactors melted down in March 2011 after a devastating tsunami knocked out their cooling systems. Water subsequently used to cool the reactors, along with groundwater flowing into the site, was contaminated with radioactive nuclides.

The contaminated water has been treated with an elaborate filtration system to remove most radioactive material. However, there is no practical way to filter out tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

Tritium has a half-life — the time needed for half of the initial radioactive substance to decay — of 12.3 years. Radiation can be dangerous to health, but Japan maintains that the dose from the Fukushima water would be less than one-seventh of the World Health Organization’s drinking water standard.

Additional reporting by Song Jung-a in Seoul

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Kana Inagaki

Astellas said on Monday that it would use cash and loans to buy the New Jersey-based company, formerly known as Ophthotech, for $40 per share, representing a premium of 22 per cent to the US company’s closing price on Friday.

The latest acquisition will add Iveric’s ACP to Astellas’ portfolio. ACP is a treatment currently in trials for geographic atrophy, an eye disease that affects 1.6mn patients in the US. Shares in Astellas briefly rose 2 per cent following the deal’s announcement.

“We hope that ACP will become our third pillar” alongside menopause drug candidate fezolinetant and bladder cancer treatment padcev, said Naoki Okamura, who took over as chief executive in April, during an online news conference.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Kana Inagaki

Ahead of the release of detailed information on Eisai’s new drug lecanemab, developed with Biogen, the company’s share price surged 60 per cent after results of a late-stage clinical trial showed that it slowed the progression rate of the memory-degenerating disease.

But on the eve of the presentation on Tuesday, news of a second death during trials emerged. That sent Eisai’s shares down 11 per cent, threatening to overshadow what Naito had hoped would be a convincing set of data to settle a debate among researchers about what causes the illness, which affects roughly 50mn people worldwide.

Under Naito, who took over as president in 1988, the company’s 11,000 employees have spent 1 per cent of their working hours — two and a half days a year — engaging with Alzheimer’s patients and their families. “It’s not by coincidence that our trial results were successful,” Naito said. “There has been a large amount of learning from our past failures.”

One of its biggest setbacks was the disastrous launch of aducanumab, which prompted the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to severely restrict reimbursement for all amyloid-reducing monoclonal antibody treatments. Eisai in March gave up its right to share the profits from that drug, whose benefits appear limited.

“The big lesson for us was to ensure transparency of data,” Naito said, referring to the controversy over whether the trial data of aducanumab provided enough evidence that the drug really worked.

“I don’t think there will be such a controversial debate this time since there is only one Clarity AD clinical trial for lecanemab so it is a very simple and easy to understand drug development.”

Regarding the potential price for lecanemab, Naito expressed confidence that US insurers will be willing to pay for the drug.

“There is no point unless the drug reaches the patients and is administered, so our biggest priority is to make sure the drug reaches the patients that need it,” Naito said. “The basis of our pricing policy will be that it will be at a level that is affordable.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Kana Inagaki