Content about Japan

NEW YORK — A new strain of the bacterium that causes whooping cough immune to vaccines may have appeared in the United States, according to a brief published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The brief, filed by officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities, reported that a strain of Bordetella pertussis had been reported in Japan, France and Finland and may have appeared in Philadelphia, where 12 children were hospitalized between 2011 and 2012.

OSAKA, Japan — Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical is selling its generics business to India-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Takeda said Monday.

Takeda said it would sell URL Pharma, through U.S. subsidiary Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, to Sun subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs while retaining control of the gout treatment Colcrys (colchicine). Takeda acquired rights to Colcrys when it bought URL Pharma for $800 million in June 2012; financial terms of the current deal with Caraco were not disclosed.

NEW YORK — Pop star Nicki Minaj is launching at retail in September her first fragrance, Pink Friday, in partnership with Elizabeth Arden.

CARSON, Calif. — The energy shot business in the mass market still is dominated by one player — Living Essentials’ 5-Hour Energy has almost 90% dollar share — but Sato Pharmaceutical, which boasts its Yunker Energy as the No. 1 energy shot in Japan, is looking to challenge that domination with the launch and support behind its Yunker Energy product across the United States. The overall category was up 9.3% to $194.5 million across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart), according to SymphonyIRI Group data.


BOSTON — A new study has indicated that the consumption of white rice can increase one's risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

OSAKA, Japan — A U.S. subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical has filed for regulatory approval of a drug designed to treat Type 2 diabetes, the company said.

The Takeda Global Research and Development Center filed with the Food and Drug Administration for approval of an alogliptin-metformin combination tablet. The company expects the FDA to review the application within the next 10 months.

NEW YORK — Bristol-Myers Squibb announced changes to its senior management team, including the appointment of its U.S. pharmaceuticals president.

BURLINGTON, Mass. — Two classes of drugs for treating Type 2 diabetes will experience the biggest growth in market share of all classes of drugs for the condition, according to a new study by Decision Resources.

The study found that DPP-IV inhibitors and GLP-1 analogues would experience the biggest growth in market share among all drug classes, with a combined market share that will increase from 20% in 2010 to 47% in 2020 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

NEW YORK — A study published in the Sept. 20 issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found a link between diabetes and the development of dementia.

OSAKA, Japan — Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical is reapplying for approval of two drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes after the Food and Drug Administration turned down its last applications, the company said.

Takeda announced that it resubmitted its applications for alogliptin and a drug that combines alogliptin with pioglitazone, the active ingredient in Actos, which the FDA approved in 1999.

The FDA will review the applications over the next six months, the drug maker said.

CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble has announced a string of organizational changes, including the appointment of Patrice Louvet as president of global male grooming.

Louvet, president of global prestige, will serve as president of global male grooming, succeeding Charles "Chip" Bergh, who is retiring from P&G after 28 years of service to pursue his aspiration to be CEO of a major company, the company stated.

NEW YORK — Coty recently donated $100,000 to two humanitarian organizations involved in the earthquake relief efforts in Japan, the beauty company announced on Wednesday.