Daiichi Sankyo

History

Daiichi Sankyo was established in 2005 through the merger of Sankyo Company, Limited (三共株式会社, Sankyō Kabushiki Kaisha) and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Company, Limited (第一製薬株式会社, Daiichi Seiyaku Kabushiki Kaisha), which were century-old pharmaceutical companies based in Japan. Sankyo Co., Ltd. was founded by Dr. Jokichi Takamine, who patented the isolation of adrenalin. Takamine was also the first president of Sankyo Co., Ltd from March 1913 – July 1922.

Kickbacks

Daiichi Sankyo is being "closely monitored" after settling charges concerning payment of remuneration to physicians in the form of speaker fees as part of company's Physician Organization and Discussion program, in violation of the False Claims Act, an anti-kickback statute.

Daiichi Sankyo agreed to pay the United States and state Medicaid programs $39 million to settle allegations by the United States Department of Justice over kickbacks to doctors. As part of the company's Physician Organization and Discussion program, Daiichi Sankyo paid physicians improper kickbacks in the form of speaker fees to induce physicians to prescribe Daiichi drugs, including Azor, Benicar, Tribenzor and Welchol. Allegedly, payments were made to physicians even when physician participants in PODs took turns “speaking” on duplicative topics over Daiichi-paid dinners, the recipient spoke only to members of his or her own staff in his or her own office, or the associated dinner was so lavish that its cost exceeded Daiichi’s own internal cost limitation of $140 per person.

“Schemes such as this are particularly abhorrent,” said Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Manufacturers and physicians who engage in them are cheating Medicare and Medicaid out of millions of dollars and threatening programs upon which many elderly and disabled Americans rely. My office will take whatever steps necessary to guard against improper alliances between manufacturers of drugs and those who prescribe them. Through our corporate integrity agreement we will be closely monitoring Daiichi.”

Acquisitions

In 2006, Daiichi Sankyo acquired Zepharma, the OTC drugs unit of Astellas Pharma.

On June 10, 2008, Daiichi Sankyo agreed to take a majority (64%) stake in Indian generic drug maker Ranbaxy, with a deal valued at about $4.6 billion.

In June 2008, Daiichi Sankyo acquired U3 Pharma, which would contribute a therapeutic anti-HER3 antibody to the company's anticancer portfolio.

On April 4, 2011 Daiichi Sankyo completed the acquisition of Plexxikon, a Berkeley, California-based pharmaceutical start-up company for $805 million and an additional $130 million in milestone payments, pending on the success of Vemurafenib (Plexxikon’s lead program) an oral, novel drug that targets the oncogenic BRAF mutation present in about half of melanoma cancers and about eight percent of all solid tumors. Daiichi Sankyo is retaining US co-promotion right of the (Roche licensed) drug.

On April 7, 2014, Daiichi Sankyo announced that it has agreed to vote its shares in Ranbaxy in favor of Sun Pharma’s acquisition of 100% of Ranbaxy through the merger process which entails a share swap. The transaction is set to close in December 2014, pending shareholder, court and regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.

On September 29, 2014, Daiichi agreed to acquire Ambit Biosciences for approximately $410 million, the deal enabled Daiichi to gain the Phase III cancer compound quizartinib.

On April 20, 2015, the company announced it had sold off the 8.9% stake in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries it acquired when acquiring Ranbaxy, raising $3.2 billion.

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

Sankyo

Daiichi Pharmaceutical

Pipeline candidates

Select mid-stage and late-stage investigational candidates in Daiichi-Sankyo's pipeline include: