Yakult: Special at Home

Unlike most Japanese pharmas that are trying to bolster their overseas presence by buying up U.S. companies or assets, Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. is focused on growing its Japanese cancer business to ¥100 billion ($1.2 billion) in annual revenues by 2020. Yakult expects to accomplish this goal by adding a mix of in-licensed and internal cancer programs to its portfolio of marketed chemotherapeutics.

Japanese pharmas such as Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have been snatching up U.S. companies, such as Plexxikon Inc. and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., respectively, to strengthen and expand their global oncology business...