EISAI CHINA COMMENCES FULL-SCALE OPERATION OF NEW SUZHOU PLANT

November 7, 2018, Eisai China Inc. (ECI) held the inauguration ceremony for its new Suzhou plant located at No. 168 Xingpu Road within the Suzhou Industrial Park. Mr. Kazuyuki Katayama (Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai), Mr. Yue Wang (Commissioner of Jiangsu Food and Drug Administration), Mr. Qingwen Wu (Standing Committee of Suzhou Municipality and Secretary General of the Party Committee of Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee (SIPAC)), Ms.  Yanyan Sun (Deputy Director of SIPAC), Mr. Jianmin Chen (Director-General of Suzhou Food and Drug Administration), Dr. Haruo Naito (CEO of Eisai Co., Ltd.), Mr. Yasushi Okada (Representative Corporate Officer of ECL, Industry Affairs and China Business), Ms. Yanhui Feng (Vice President of ECL, President of Eisai China), Mr. Norio Kaneko (Chairman of Eisai China) and people with close attention to the development of Eisai China attended the ceremony.


CEO Haruo Naito delivering the speech.

During the address, Dr. Naito expressed his appreciation for all the government officers and guests attending the inauguration ceremony for the new Suzhou plant of Eisai China. With the human health care (hhc) corporate philosophy, the quality management policies of Eisai are “The quality of every single tablet, capsule and ampoule that we produce is integral to the life of the patient”, aiming to contribute to Chinese patients. The construction of the new oral solid dose production facility is to strengthen the stable supply system, and to further expand the contribution to Chinese patients. In the further, Eisai will bring in new technologies, develop new dosage forms and make the new plant a global manufacturing site spreading innovation. Meanwhile, Dr. Naito emphasized that Eisai will commit to the research and development of new drugs, and bring into China more and better drugs like Lenvatinib (product name: Lenvima®), a first-line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Eisai gives first thought to patients and their families, and seeks to contribute further to increasing the benefits provided to them.

As a part of Eisai’s global manufacturing system, the former Suzhou plant, located in Baiyu Road with a floor space of approximately 25,000 m2, was responsible for the local production of solid dosage forms and injections, as well as the sub-packaging of imported products. The total investment was increased to US$110 million in 2004, and the registered capital reached US$38.54 million. To increase the production capacity, the second production facility was established and put into use in 2005. To maintain the business development in China, the total investment was increased to US$230 million in 2010, and the registered capital reached US$78.54 million. In the same year, aiming to get further development, Eisai increased investment and established the new Suzhou plant on a new industrial site (Xingpu Road) at approximately 134,000m2 in size, with the construction of administration building, distribution center, parenteral production facility (production capacity: 60 million bottles per year), oral solid dose production facility, and etc. completed successively. The oral solid dose production facility project was started in January 2015, and completed in November 2017, with a size of 23,364m2, and the production capacity (formulation of approximately 3 billion tablets / packaging for approximately 5 billion tablets per year) is approximately double that of the former Suzhou plant. On September 14, 2018, the plant acquired GMP certificates for injection and oral solid dose, and formally went into operation.

As one of the main plants, Suzhou Plant, in addition to satisfy the needs of Chinese market, will also provide drugs for 23 countries and regions in East Asia, South East Asia, Middle East, Central and South America, Europe, and etc.. In recent years, Eisai Suzhou Plant was awarded the “Great Suzhou Best Employer”, “Top 20 Tax Payers”, ”Top 10 Enterprises in Headquarters Economy”, “Top 10 Enterprises of Foreign Regional Headquarters”, and etc., successively. The annual sales volume of Eisai China remains in the first position among the Japanese pharmaceutical enterprises in China.


VIP Photography

Currently, Eisai has established 3 companies in Suzhou Industrial Park, namely ECI, with its Suzhou plant as the most important manufacturing site in China and awarded “Major Taxpayer in Suzhou” for many successive years since its establishment in 1996, Eisai (Suzhou) Trading Co., Ltd. (EST), established in 2010 responsible for Eisai’s logistics, warehouse and sales in China, and Eisai China Holdings Ltd. (ECHL), which was set up in 2014, with investment increased in the next year. ECI and EST are under the control of ECHL. In 2015, Eisai (Liaoning) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was officially established through the full takeover of a local generic drug manufacturer. Currently, the total registered capital of Eisai in China is US$108.54 million, specializing in neurology, oncology and gastrointestinal areas, with 18 pharmaceutical brands in China’s Market. Of the 18 brands, 8 ones are locally produced, and the other 5 ones are sub-packaged. Until 2017, Eisai has nearly two thousand employees in China, and more than one thousand of them are medical representatives taking activities mainly in 4,800 hospitals in over one hundred cities with an urban population of more than one million. In 2017, the annual sales volume of Eisai China remained in the first position among the Japanese pharmaceutical enterprises in China.

Eisai’s business operations in China are one of its core businesses which are third-largest in scale after Japan and the United States. With the full-scale commencement of operations at the new Suzhou plant, Eisai seeks to strengthen its in-house domestic production system in China and expand its stable supply chain of high quality pharmaceuticals, contributing to increasing the benefits to patients and their families in China.


Notes to editors
Outline of New Suzhou Plant
Location: 168 Xingpu Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Site area: Approximately 134,000 m2


Bird’s eye view of the new Suzhou plant

(1) Oral Solid Dose Production Facility
· Floor space: Approximately 20,240 m2 / Three floors
· Main functions: Formulation, packaging, storage, etc.
· Products to be manufactured: Methycobal®, Aricept®, Pariet® and other products

(2) Parenteral Production Facility
· Floor space: Approximately 5,690 m2 / Two floors
· Products manufactured: Methycobal® injection and other products

(3) Administration Building
· Floor space: Approximately 2,230 m2 / Two floors
· Main facilities: Offices, meeting rooms, cafeteria, etc.

(4) Distribution Warehouse
· Floor space: Approximately 7,812 m2 / One floor