Astellas ‘on target’ for profit goal

Astellas, the Japanese pharmaceutical company, is on track to meet its operating profit target for the financial year ending March 2008.

The target is 250 billion yen (1.18 billion pounds), which would represent a 39 per cent growth from its expected results this year, according to the Dow Jones Newswires.

Masafumi Nogimori, the president and chief executive of Astellas who was installed last month, told a shareholders’ meeting that his role would involve overseeing the development of new drugs, improving shareholder returns and boosting the company’s marketing and research and development capabilities.

He is quoted by the Dow Jones Newswires as saying: “We are strongly committed to that figure as we conduct our operations.”

Last week, Astellas removed a drug from its product pipeline. FK778 was developed as an immunosuppressant but phase II clinical trials failed to demonstrate a clear benefit over current treatment options in combination with Prograf.

However, another immunosuppressant, FK506 was submitted for marketing approval in Japan for the suppression of organ rejection after transplants and the suppression of graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease in bone marrow transplant patients.

The company has also announced that both Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim and Astellas had jointly filed for the approval of Micardis for type two diabetic neuropathy. Micardis is an angiotensin II receptor blocker commonly prescribed as a treatment for hypertension.

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