Tanabe's 2005 profits fall to 15.5B yen

Japanese drugmaker Tanabe says that its turnover for the fiscal year ended March 2006 edged down 0.3% to 171.6 billion yen ($1.53 billion), while its operating income increased 0.4% to 27.6 billion, slightly above the firm's target for the year. The company's net income fell 2.7% to 15.5 billion yen, which it attributes to extraordinary losses associated with the sale of its distribution center and the elimination of some of its plant facilities.

Tanabe also said that revenue from sales of its prescription drug products was up 0.2% to 153.0 billion yen. The company added that this figure included the estimated 3.1 billion yen drop in sales that it had experienced since it returned marketing rights for the antibiotic Modacin (ceftazidine) to the UK's GlaxoSmithKline at the end of the previous financial year.

In addition, the firm also announced the details of its mid-term management plan. Its key objectives include achieving sales of 200.0 billion yen by 2010, 50.0 million yen of which will come from Remicade (infliximab), and hitting annual operating income of 35.0 billion yen. To facilitate this plan, the firm said that it would expand its R&D investment to 30.0 billion yen to fund further product development.