History and Global Brand

After learning about the drug wholesaling business from his father, Gisaburo Shiono, Sr. established Shiono Gisaburo Shoten at the present site of the head office in Doshomachi, Osaka on his 24th birthday.

Gisaburo established relationships with traders fluent in English, enabling him to import Western medicines directly and offer them at a reasonable price.

We launched our pharmaceutical division and drug manufacturing business by opening our first manufacturing plant in Osaka.
 

We launched our first in-house drug, an anti-indigestion medication called Antacidin, developed our first cardiac drug named Digitamin and began importing Salvarsan shortly after its development overseas to help fight syphilis in Japan.

Beginning with our own research and development in infectious disease, we introduced Sinomin, the first sulfonamide antibiotic drug discovered and developed by Shionogi, in 1959 and soon out-licensed it to Roche. The antibiotic circulated worldwide, becoming an instrumental tool in the fight against infectious diseases. This period also marked the beginning of our collaboration with other global pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly and Company.

In 1982, we successfully discovered and launched Shiomarin, the world’s first oxacephem antibiotic. This product, alongside others in the space, established our reputation as specialists in antibiotics. Our expansion continued in 1983 with the construction of our Kanegasaki Plant, one of our key production factories. In 1988, our Institute for Medical Science was founded, and we began researching emerging diseases such as HIV and antiviral medicines.
 

We established Shionogi USA, Inc. (now Shionogi Inc.) and formed a joint venture with the UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to collaborate on research and development, focusing on HIV integrase inhibitors.

After the successful introduction of drugs such as the hyperlipidemia treatment Crestor^® (rosuvastatin) in Japan throughout the early 2000s, we acquired the U.S.-based Sciele Pharma, Inc.
 

Along with additional acquisitions, we discovered several notable medications, including the HIV treatment Tivicay^® (dolutegravir) in 2014 and the influenza drug Xofluza^® (baloxavir marboxil) in 2018.

In 2020, we successfully launched Fetroja^® (cefiderocol). In collaboration with ViiV Healthcare, we introduced the long-acting injectable HIV prophylactic Apretude^® (cabotegravir) in 2021. In 2022, we established a new European Headquarters in Herengracht, Amsterdam. In 2023, we acquired Qpex Biopharma, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with expertise in antimicrobial research and development.