- published: 23 Oct 2015
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Astellas Pharma Inc. (アステラス製薬株式会社, Asuterasu Seiyaku Kabushiki-gaisha?, TYO: 4503) is a Japanese pharmaceutical company, formed on 1 April 2005 from the merger of Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (山之内製薬株式会社, Yamanouchi Seiyaku Kabushiki-gaisha?) and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (藤沢薬品工業株式会社, Fujisawa Yakuhin Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha?).
Astellas' franchise areas are urology, immunology (transplantation), dermatology, cardiology, and infectious disease. Priority areas for R&D are infectious diseases, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, oncology, and diseases of the central nervous system.
The company's headquarters are in Tokyo, with research centers in Tsukuba and Osaka. Clinical development is centred in Deerfield, Illinois and Leiderdorp, Netherlands. Combined revenues of the two pre-merger companies were $7.9 billion in 2004. Worldwide the company employs about 17,000 people.
Fujisawa Shoten was started in 1894 by Tomokichi Fujisawa in Osaka, and was renamed Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. in 1943.