Contribution to Global Health

Our Basic Approach on Global Health

Despite the rapid progress in technology and knowledge of modern medicine, unmet medical needs remain in a wide range of therapeutic areas, and every R&D-based pharmaceutical company is charged with the mission of addressing these issues by creating innovative new medicines. Furthermore, there are many countries and regions where people are unable to equally access adequate medical treatment due to inadequate medical systems and poverty as well as disruption caused by natural disasters or conflicts, etc.
Sumitomo Pharma has set “Improving access to medicines and advocacy” as a material issue to be addressed utilizing our various capitals (strengths). In addition, we have set the goal of “Contribute to the betterment of the healthcare system in countries/ regions that struggle with equal access to necessary healthcare, by developing healthcare professionals, raising awareness of the public, and making policy recommendations through collaboration with the industry, governments, and NPOs/ NGOs.”
We believe that working on establishment of healthcare systems in developing countries, training and developing human resources, and educating the public will not only contribute to achieving the SDGs, but also lead to an increase in our presence as a global pharmaceutical company.

For more information on our initiatives to improve access to medicines, please see "Initiatives to Improve Access to Medicines."

Our Strategy in Global Health

We formulate long-term strategic plan on global health and implement our initiatives by focusing the following points.

• Considering the feasibility and efficiency of social implementation, we prioritize and invest our resources in infectious disease areas where we can leverage our strengths (specialty, technical capabilities, networks) and where we can synergize with our business.​
• Recognizing that global health issues are to be addressed through global scale partnership, we work toward solving issues by developing sustainable systems in multi-platform collaboration with international organizations, government agencies, research institutions, and civil society.
• Referring to the designated as Least Developed Countries (LDCs)^*1 defined by the United Nations or Low Income Countries (LICs)^*2 and Low & Middle Income Countries（LMICs）^*3 defined by the World Bank, we decide the area we prioritize to address.​

• *1 https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category.html
• *2https://data.worldbank.org/income-level/low-income
• *3https://data.worldbank.org/income-level/low-and-middle-income

Priorities in Addressing Global Health

Provision of Health Improvement Program for Mothers and Children

As an initiative for improvement of healthcare infrastructure in developing countries, Sumitomo Pharma provides an NPO-led health improvement program for mothers and children by NPO People's Hope Japan. In Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia from July 2016 to March 2023, and in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia from July 2023 to September 2024, the Company engaged in initiatives to promote health checkups for infants and pregnant women, regular education and training on nutrition and hygiene, and home-visit childcare support in collaboration with NPOs, local governments, local health centers, and communities.

In fiscal 2023, we conducted capacity-building training for 43 health volunteers, including former TBAs (traditional birth attendants), in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. The trained health volunteers provided health education to 765 local residents, and the health center staff provided health education to 1,450 local residents through outreach services for preventive vaccination. These efforts aimed to promote prenatal checkups, raise awareness of proper nutrition during pregnancy, and prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Support Program in Kampong Cham Province

Support Program in Siem Reap Province

Efforts for Creation of Universal Influenza Vaccine

For influenza, we are working on the development of a "universal influenza vaccine" that provide protection against a broad range of influenza viruses, through joint research with the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition. In May 2024, the company initiated a Phase 1 clinical study of a universal influenza vaccine candidate formulation in Europe.
The joint research group, for the first time, has demonstrated that their novel universal influenza vaccine candidate formulations adjuvanted with the toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist, provide a strong protection against heterologous strains (cross-protection), elucidated the mode of action of the formulations, and indicated the significance of the TLR7 adjuvant. The research results have been published in the online edition of the international academic journal 'Vaccine'.
This joint research has been selected as a general R&D-type project under the Cyclic Innovation for Clinical Empowerment (CiCLE) Program conducted by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).

Efforts for Eradication of Malaria

HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, the three major infectious diseases, are global problems that cannot be solved by one country alone and which need international cooperation to address them. Sumitomo Pharma is continuing collaboration with Ehime University, the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), and Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBET) on a vaccine to prevent clinical malaria, and with Ehime University and PATH in the United States on malaria infection-blocking and malaria transmission-blocking vaccines. Each of these projects has been selected for funding by the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund).

Strengthening of Public-Private Collaboration on Countermeasures against Antimicrobial Resistance and Appropriate Use of Antibiotics

In recent years, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized as a social problem requiring international initiatives.
Sumitomo Pharma is conducting joint research with a drug discovery group of Kitasato Institute led by Dr. Satoshi Omura, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Kitasato University and the 2015 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the purpose of creating drugs for the treatment of AMR infectious diseases. This joint R&D initiative has been selected by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) for its Cyclic Innovation for Clinical Empowerment (CiCLE) grant program. In January 2022, we started Phase 1 study in the U.S. for a new compound discovered through this collaboration for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections, which were completed in October 2022.
In Vietnam particularly, it has been reported that the resistance rate to antibiotics of various gram-negative rods, typically Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp., is especially high. In June 2019, as a partnership initiative with the ministry of Health of Vietnam, Sumitomo Pharma and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine jointly commenced an antibiotic susceptibility surveillance study in Vietnam in collaboration with major local hospitals in order to contribute to AMR countermeasures and promote the proper use of antibiotics in Vietnam. The study is a detailed cohort investigation into the development of resistance to the antibiotics used as a main treatment option for severe and intractable infections in Vietnam.
In 2020, we completed the data analysis of the 1st antibiotic susceptibility surveillance study, which covered 10 hospitals, reported detailed results and exchanged opinions with each hospital. In 2021, we presented the results at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) with the aim of widely disseminating our research results. In 2024, we completed the 2nd antibiotic susceptibility surveillance study, which covered 11 hospitals, including the establishment of a central laboratory to improve testing capabilities within Vietnam, and provide support for the establishment of a self-sustaining system.

Participation in the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund)

Through our participation in the GHIT Fund, we seek to improve access to medicines by exploring the possibility of utilizing our innovative drug discovery technologies to tackle neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), malaria, and other diseases with significant unmet medical needs.