Sumitomo and Nihon link in vitro businesses:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Japanese companies Nihon Medi-Physics and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals are to spin off their respective in vitro diagnostic businesses into a new company, Sumitomo Seiyaku Biomedical. The move comes in response to the difficult market conditions in the in vitro sector of the radiopharmaceutical diagnostic market in Japan. Nihon is a 50% joint venture of Sumitomo Chemical (which in turn owns 78% of Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals) and Nycomed Amersham. The in vivo business of Nihon - by far the majority of its sales - continues unaffected.