We have grown as a pharmaceutical company together with Rescula® Eye Drops 0.12％, a drug for treating glaucoma and ocular hypertension invented through a study on metabolized prostaglandin (Prostone) conducted by Dr. Ryuji Ueno (physician, doctor of medicine, doctor of pharmacy), who is one of the founders of R-Tech Ueno. Rescula® Eye Drops 0.12％ came into existence because Dr. Ryuji Ueno placed his focus as a doctor on a safe metabolite in the human body. R-Tech Ueno has adopted the attitude of Dr. Ryuji Ueno to see things through the eyes of a doctor, and has engaged in sales and development of drugs with a goal of improving the quality of life of patients. For the future, we intend to further emphasize the viewpoint of doctors as we make the best use of the experience gained by doctors in clinical settings and the achievements made in numerous basic studies conducted to date, in order to proactively work on the sales and development of drugs truly demanded in clinical settings, as well as make efforts to improve the health and quality of life of people.
| Mission | ||
| 1. | Keeping in mind the venture spirit, we seek to conduct a speedy development of drugs based on a wellspring of revolutionary ideas. | |
| 2. | The pharmaceutical business is changing dynamically and has surpassed all borders. By maintaining close contact with companies and research institutions abroad, we seek to come forth as a business with a keen global perspective. | |
| 3. | By communicating the latest news from ophthalmologists' patients and our own company to the medical community, we wish to improve people's health and quality of life. | |
| 4. | Utilizing our abundant knowledge in the field of compound chemistry and manufacturing know-how, we seek to build a manufacturing division high in supplemental value. | |
| 5. | With a strong personnel system, we will secure an excellent staff and aim to be a company overflowing from the strength of a group of passionate professionals who number few in the world. | |
Yukihiko Mashima
PresidentR-Tech Ueno, Ltd.
Purpose
The pharmaceutical industry in Japan is entering a period of enormous changes. Major events include government measures to cut health care expenses, reductions in national health insurance drug prices, the upcoming patent expirations of many major drugs (the so-called "2010 problem"), and government's policy of increasing the use of generic drugs. Pharmaceutical companies in Japan are all responding in their own ways in order to survive in this difficult environment. One result is the division of pharmaceutical companies into different categories. As the process takes place, R-Tech Ueno, Ltd. has established the goal of becoming “a global pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and sale of ophthalmology and dermatology drugs from the viewpoint of physicians.”
Pharmaceutical companies sell drugs to physicians, but patients are the beneficiaries of these drugs. Medical affairs activities are vital to responding swiftly to the dramatic shifts in the health care and social environments involving the use of drugs. These activities use the experience of physicians who prescribe drugs for the purpose of meeting the needs of physicians who make decisions concerning how to prescribe drugs for their patients.
Due to the importance it places on medical affairs, R-Tech Ueno has decided to establish a Medical Advisory Board. The board will serve as an advisory body to the R-Tech Ueno Executive Committee, which is overseen by the company president, who is a physician. Members of the board are physicians and other specialists in the field of ophthalmology. By focusing on specific themes, they will be asked to discuss from many perspectives problems involving ophthalmology care and the future direction of health care in this field. Opinions and suggestions provided by the Medical Advisory Board will be used to conduct pharmaceutical business operations more effectively. R-Tech Ueno will also distribute this information to health care professionals in the ophthalmology field. In addition, R-Tech Ueno will ask board members to evaluate the company's performance once each year from the standpoint of physicians.
R-Tech Ueno was established in September 1989 for the purpose of marketing and R&D of pharmaceuticals. Under leadership of the President, also a medical doctor, the company is developing new pharmaceuticals on the theme "Physician-Oriented New Drug Innovation", targeting ophthalmologic and dermatologic diseases that previously had no effective therapeutic agent. The company's main product Rescula® Eye Drops 0.12% is a therapeutic drug for glaucoma and ocular hypertension and has been marketed in Japan since 1994. R-Tech Ueno was the first in the world to take advantage of the substance “prostone” in the development of Rescula®. Prostone was discovered in the 1980s by Dr. Ryuji Ueno, the founder of the company. Rescula® Eye Drops 0.12% that causes less topical and systemic adverse reactions, demonstrates steady ocular pressure decreasing action by twice a day instillation. Such excellent therapeutic effects are realized through its optic nerve protection and ocular blood flow increasing mechanism. Concerning Rescula® ( unoprostone) for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension, R-Tech Ueno concluded a contract with Sucampo Pharma Americas, Inc. in April 2009 for the approval and assignment of distributorship, as well as for licensing the relevant patents and granting exclusive right to manufacture and supply in USA and Canada.
Prostone
Prostone is a group of functional fatty acids that was discovered in the early 1980s by R-Tech Ueno founder, Ryuji Ueno, MD. Ph.D., Ph.D. While as a drug it has positive local physiological effects, it is also a chemical compound whose various side effects originally exhibited in Prostaglandin have been isolated. Rescula® (Generic name: Isopropyl Unoprostone) Eye Drops 0.12% was approved in Japan in 1994 as the world's first “Prostone” medicine to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension, and activates the ion (K+) channel. In January of 2006, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Bethesda, MD) obtained approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the Chronic Idiopathic Constipation drug, AMITIZA® (Generic name: Lubiprostone). AMITIZA® is the second "Prostone" drug, and activates the ion (Cl-) channel.
Medical affairs
Medical affairs activities use the experience of physicians who prescribe drugs. The purpose is to accurately reflect the needs of physicians concerning how to prescribe drugs for their patients in a company's drug development operations and marketing strategies. Recently, an increasing number of major European and U.S. pharmaceutical companies have established medical affairs units made up of physicians. Furthermore, in Japan, The Japanese Association of Pharmaceutical Medicine (http://japhmed.jp) has been established by physicians who are employed by pharmaceutical companies. By conducting a variety of activities associated with the development of drugs, this association seeks to contribute to improvements in health care.
