OREANDA-NEWS. June 14, 2011.  Toyota Tsusho Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Toyota Tsusho”; Headquarters: Nagoya City; President: Junzo Shimizu) signed an agreement to be the exclusive agency in Japan for the Spanish biomedicine manufacturing company, Genhelix S.A. (Headquarters: Leon, Spain; President: David Marcos Martinez).

The drugs that Toyota Tsusho and Genhelix will collaborate on are called Biosimilars, branded generic drugs manufactured and sold as medications with an equivalent potency and effectiveness as the preceding drugs, following the patent expiration period for biomedicines created through the application of genetic engineering.

The current biomedicine market in Japan is estimated to be about JPY400 million but it is anticipated to become a market of about JPY1.2 trillion by the year 2020, due to the fact that the drugs have little side effects for cancer and rheumatism patients, and the growth of the overall biomedicine market, as well as full scale expiration of the patents for preceding drugs from the year 2012, which will lead to the moderation of prices.

Toyota Tsusho entered into the biosimilar market, where future growth can be expected and will provide agency services to deliver biosimilar products manufactured by Genhelix to pharmaceutical manufacturers in Japan, as well as the commissioned manufacturing of new biodrugs.

Both companies will be enhancing their pharmaceutical businesses in the future by utilizing the various products and service know-how of Genhelix, as well as the worldwide network of Toyota Tsusho.