SCOTTISH pharmaceuticals firm ProStrakan has rebranded as Kyowa Kirin as the company’s Japanese parent, which is valued around £6 billion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, seeks to present a consistent image across the world.
The Galashiels-based based business will now trade as Kyowa Kirin International, with its 15 country affiliates adopting the Kyowa Kirin name into their local company titles. The Scottish company was acquired in 2011 by Kyowa Hakko Kirin (KHK), a Tokyo-based life sciences business that employs more than 7,000 people and specialises in therapeutic areas including oncology, kidney disease and immunology.
“KHK’s ambition is to grow a global pharmaceuticals business,” said Kyowa Kirin International chief executive Tom Stratford, whose father Harry co-founded ProStrakan in 1995. “The business is entering an exciting launch phase for its pipeline of near-to-market products and this is a logical time for the company to unify all of its operating companies under the Kyowa Kirin name across Asia, Europe and the US.”
Mr Stratford said he and his team were proud of their heritage as ProStrakan and of the part they play in the KHK group.
“We plan to adopt the Kyowa Kirin identity over the course of 2016 and I am confident that we will continue to play a significant role in the Scottish life sciences sector and in our markets across Europe and the US,” Mr Stratford added.
Sales and marketing of the Scottish company’s portfolio of products is handled by commercial subsidiaries in the UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and other EU countries. Kyowa Kirin International is one of five Western subsidiaries of KHK.
In the year to end December 2015, KHK reported a 9 per cent increase in net sales to 364 billion yen (£2.3 billion) and a 21 per cent rise in operating income to 44 billion yen (£284m). The group’s nearest to market new product is XLH, a treatment for genetic rickets.
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