Long-term commitment to improving R&D to provide novel treatments for infectious diseases

Shionogi’s involvement in the field of infectious diseases essentially began when we began importing streptomycin in the years following World War II. Subsequently, we commenced sales of Ilotycin (licensed in from Eli Lilly) in 1952, and in 1959 we launched the long-acting sulfonamide Shinomin, the first proprietary product to come out of our research. The drug was out-licensed to Roche, helping to treat patients with infectious diseases worldwide. We also released the sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim combination Baktar, which is still widely used by patients worldwide. Shionogi now has been involved in infectious disease R&D for over 60 years, either independently or via strategic alliances with other companies/organizations, and we seek to continue generating new products in this field by drawing on that extensive experience in antibiotic drug discovery.

At Shionogi, we also have spent more than 25 years conducting our own surveillance for resistant bacteria, and the data thus obtained is proving invaluable in promoting antimicrobial stewardship and AMR countermeasures.

Shionogi’s efforts to combat AMR also have been recognized externally. In a recent Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark 2018 survey, Shionogi was the only Japanese pharmaceutical company to qualify for inclusion, and was recognized along with the seven other large research-based pharmaceutical companies. Especially, Shionogi was highly recognized in the survey as having the highest annual ratio of investment in R&D for anti-infectives of any of the companies surveyed (based on investment as a proportion of net sales). 

Shionogi is also active in the field of antiviral treatments. Over the years we have released a number of innovative anti-infectives including the anti-HIV agent Tivicay and related pipeline drugs, and the flu drug Xofluza.