Founded in 1915, Arsemin Shokai, one of the predecessors of Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd, (Daiichi Sankyo), attempted to produce the syphilis medicine Salvarsan (trade name of arsphenamine) because imports from Germany had stopped due to the First World War. The following year, when the research was successful and proven to be effective, Neo-Neo-Arsemin was released. The medicine received a good reputation for quality and orders increased, and in January 1918, Arsemin Shokai became the listed company, Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Daiichi), and expanded its business.
Growing to become a top manufacturer of domestically-produced Salvarsan
Sales of Neo-Neo-Arsemin were strong even after the change to a listed company, but gradually the raw material ingredient, hydrosulfite, became difficult to procure, threatening to hinder production. Daiichi, which had aimed to produce all drug ingredients domestically from the very beginning, set up a self-sustaining system for hydrosulfite, on which it had been performing trials for some time. Subsequently, it established a mass production system, and in 1919, the company began supplying hydrosulfite as a reductive bleaching agent to the market. It also began the manufacture of industrial chemicals.
In 1920, in addition to Arsemin, Daiichi added product lines such as “Neotan-varsan” and “Pure Neotan-varsan” to become one of the top manufacturers of Salvarsan. In spite of these early successes, the company strived to stay grounded and humble.
Carrying on the thoughts of the founders and starting to manufacture new medicines
When it was first founded, Arsemin Shokai had an aspiration of “creating academically authoritative high-quality pharmaceuticals directly linked to modern medicine.” That passion was passed on to Daiichi.
In November 1922, the manufacture of new medicines other than Salvarsan began. Then, in March of the following year, the company launched “Lutamine Injection” as a labor-inducing and uterine bleeding hemostatic agent, and in April, “Anhydrous Glucose” and “Glucose Injection” for nutrition, strength, and detoxification.
In addition, the company manufactured and sold “Bosmin,” a vasoconstriction hemostasis and asthma treatment. Bosmin has the same composition as adrenaline, the hormone extracted from the adrenal gland. It was already patented in the United States, but Daiichi synthesized it in a different way. As a result, the company became a pioneer in domestic synthetic adrenaline, and in the process also became highly regarded as a new medicine manufacturer.
Incidentally, the first successful extraction of adrenaline from the adrenal gland, patented in the United States, was achieved by the researcher and businessperson Jokichi Takamine. He was the also first president of Sankyo Co., Ltd.(Sankyo), which is another predecessor of Daiichi Sankyo, (click here for the story of Takamine’s “adrenaline” extraction). Sankyo was the company to import Salvarsan from Germany before the First World War.
At the time so many years ago, there may have been a strange connection between Daiichi and Sankyo, who were taking on the challenge of innovation separately, which ultimately caused their paths to cross, coming together to form the modern day Daiichi Sankyo.