In the multispecialty ranking “Best Pharmaceutical Companies Germany” 2022, Astellas comes in 10th place in the category “research-based, world-leading pharmaceutical companies by sales”. The first places in the category go to Janssen-Cilag, Novartis and Bayer Vital/Jenapharm. Astellas has long been one of the market leaders in Germany in the therapeutic fields of urology and transplant medicine.
Astellas Pharma GmbH is a German research-based pharmaceutical company with Japanese roots. It was formed in 2005 from the merger of Yamanouchi Pharma GmbH and Fujisawa Deutschland GmbH (formed from Klinge Pharma).
Headquartered in Munich, Astellas Pharma employs about 300 people in medicine, marketing and sales. In the German pharmacy market, Astellas generates annual sales of around 420 million euros, mainly with drugs for the therapeutic areas of transplantation medicine and urology – in which Astellas has long been one of the market leaders in Germany – as well as anti-infectives and oncology.
Astellas: Ethical medicines with Japanese roots
The parent company is Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc (Astellas Seiyaku K.K.), one of the three largest Japanese pharmaceutical companies with Takeda Pharmaceutical and Daiichi Sankyo and one of the 20 largest worldwide. Astellas Pharma Inc’s 2021 sales reached 1.323 trillion Japanese yen (JPY), equivalent to about €9.5 billion. Research spending was €1.73 billion, or about 18% of sales. Astellas employs around 16,500 people worldwide.
The Japanese group has identified the main sales drivers for 2021 as: Xtandi™ (prostate cancer), Xospata™ (acute myeloid leukaemia), Padcev™ (metastatic bladder cancer), Evrenzo™ (renal anaemia), Betmiga™ (overactive bladder), Prograf™ and Advagraf™ (immunosuppression). Some of them are being further developed for other indications. Astellas’ research focus areas (Focus Area Approach) are vision loss and regenerative therapies, immuno-oncology, mitochondrial biology and gene therapy.
In the Western subsidiaries, Astellas reports a share of women among employees of around 54%, in Japan it is 31% and in China 61%.
Astellas has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2011 and is committed to ethical business. The company is involved in numerous social projects at home and abroad.
Multiple awards for Astellas for innovation and sustainability
Since the start of the Pharma Trend benchmark study in 2000, Astellas Pharma GmbH has already received the award “The Golden Tablet” for innovation and sustainability nine times, including four times in a row (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014-2017). Astellas first received the award “The Most Innovative Product” in the specialist group of urologists in 2014 for Betmiga™, then in 2015 and 2016 for Xtandi™.
Awards for innovation and sustainability since 2000:
- The Golden Tablet (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 – 2017)
- Betmiga™ (2014)
- Xtandi™ (2015, 2016)
