Unmet medical needs are medical needs that have yet to be met, in other words, medical needs for diseases for which there is still no effective treatment. Along with the creation of new drugs, there are still many unmet medical needs, and in order to meet these needs further, it is essential to conduct even more research and development activities than ever before. For the health of people around the world and to bring smiles to their faces, we continue to take on the challenge of creating innovative new drugs today.

Orphan drugs are drugs for diseases for which the number of patients is small and treatment methods have not been established. Until now, the small number of patients made it difficult to spend large amounts of money on research and development, and full-scale development tended to be slow. However, with the revision of the former Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, a full-fledged public R&D assistance system for orphan drugs was started. As a result, it has become easier to conduct research and development of orphan drugs, and drugs for diseases that affect only a few patients in Japan are now being developed.