A Message from our CEO

AN INTERVIEW WITH KAZUHIRO

How do you View Trends in the CRO Industry?

The global CRO market is growing along with the pharmaceutical industry and I expect it to continue expanding in the future. In addition to the need for further acceleration and cost reductions in drug development, the need for outsourcing to CROs, which are clinical development specialists, continues to increase due to the diversification of products under development. In particular, the United States is the world's largest clinical trials market as well the world’s largest CRO market, and is where many biopharmaceutical companies develop new drugs. With high growth rates expected in the future too, the question of how to capture this United States market will be the key to winning in the increasingly competitive CRO industry. In addition, in major countries including Japan, the number of international clinical trials is increasing in order to obtain approval for new drugs promptly on a global basis. I think that in this increasingly international and large-scale clinical development environment, the importance of being a global CRO that can understand global standards correctly and provide high-quality services in all regions will only increase.

How Will you Realize Sustainable Growth in the Future After the COVID-19 Pandemic?

We will aim for further growth as a group by capturing vigorous demand for new drug development overseas, especially in Europe and the United States, and by acquiring more large-scale global trials. Our company, which was founded in June 2005, has been aiming to become a global CRO originating in Japan since its inception, and established its first subsidiary in the United States in 2008. Subsequently, we have continued positive expansion of our business globally, acquiring local CROs in Korea and Europe in 2014, and in the United States in 2018. Today, we operate in >20 countries and regions. Our overseas sales ratio for the fiscal year ended March 2022 increased to 50%, and I would like to further increase this ratio.

In the United States, the largest market, several biopharmaceutical companies have come to the forefront where Linical has provided customized solutions as a global CRO. In addition, in Europe, we have captured multiple orders for large-scale global projects from major pharmaceutical companies, etc. The balance of our orders has increased greatly and started to contribute to increased sales for the group as a whole. In this way, we will make maximum use of the group's tri-polar structure of Asia Pacific, the United States, and Europe to demonstrate synergies within the group and accelerate the capture of orders.

What is the Outlook for your Japanese Business?

Japan remains one of the world's leading pharmaceutical markets and I think it will continue to be an attractive market not only for Japanese pharmaceutical companies, but also for biopharma companies around the world. As a global CRO originating in Japan, we will build strategic partner relationships with such customers and provide comprehensive support from the drug discovery stage through clinical development and post-marketing drug growth. In particular, we have the regulatory consulting expertise to help biopharma companies who are about to enter the Japanese pharmaceutical market. This service, known as our Innovative Drug Development Business (IDDB), has gathered together professionals with many years of experience in a wide range of drug development work at pharmaceutical companies, and is characterized by its ability to provide total support, from market analysis to the formulation of pharmaceutical affairs and development strategies, and from the selection of strategic partners for marketing to the conclusion of contracts.

Since its establishment, Linical has specialized in several core disease areas: immunology (including vaccines), neurology and the central nervous system (CNS), endocrinology and metabolic diseases, and cancers (oncology). We will continue to provide speedy, high-quality services centered on these disease areas in which development is difficult. Moreover, we are also pioneering work on trials using the latest therapies expected to expand in the future, such as regenerative medicine, cell therapy and treatment apps, and have expanded our targeted disease areas to include pediatrics, biosimilars, and rare diseases [link to other therapeutic area pages].

In Japan, we will evolve our business model from the perspectives of customers, disease areas, and services to maintain medium to long-term growth and improve profitability.

Lastly, Could you Give us a Message for Shareholders, please?

The company continues to grow by expanding business globally, and we are aiming to increase corporate value over the medium to long term. Based on the fact that we will be making investments overseas in the future mainly in the United States and European markets by 2025, which have huge pharmaceutical markets, we chose the Prime market, which emphasizes dialogue with global investors. 

I hope that shareholders will continue to support Linical from a long-term perspective. As for the return of profits, we will continue to respond by paying stable dividends. I look forward to your continued support and encouragement for the group.

* The result of judgment was 8.13 billion yen against the standard of 10 billion yen.