Meiji Seika Pharma: Developing new ideas to win in paddy-fungicide arena

Meiji Seika Pharma was formed this April from a reorganization of Meiji Holdings. Hisashi Nakamura, general manager of the company’s agrichemical department, said that the new company is leaner and its management is expected to be more agile. With its fortunes being watched from the outside, it has set the bar high for its performance to ensure that it conforms to expectations.

Would you tell us about the preceding year?

Last year was the 35th anniversary of the start of sales of Orzyemate, our rice-blast preventive, a core product that has been broadly welcomed by customers, and we retained a top domestic market share. While maintaining our robust businesses, we will create new businesses. In the paddy-fungicide market, with the rice-acreage reduction policy and intensified competition, it is difficult to make progress with existing products, so we launched a new fungicide for nursery boxes that includes another company’s active ingredient to widen the scope of application. Thanks to its success, we secured a high market share in fiscal 2010, similar to the fiscal 2009 level. Aside from the effects of the March 11 earthquake on our overall business, our businesses performed the same as in the previous year.

What is the outlook for this year?

First, we intend to maximize our existing products’ sales. It was proven that using our Gibberellin Meiji Plant growth regulator with Jusumometo ekizai (prohydrojasmon) reduced skin lifting in Satsuma mandarin oranges, so we intend to promote this as a new method for plant growth control. Our Zaxa liquid-formula foliage herbicides, which were launched in April, can be used in the cultivation of a variety of fruits and vegetables and are highly effective against perennial as well as annual weeds. We will promote their sales as herbicides that can save labor.

What is the status of new-product development?

Our pipeline includes ME5343 and ANM-138, both insecticides, and AF-02, a fungicide. We concluded an agreement in May 2010 to license to Germany’s BASF the exclusive right to develop and commercialize ME5343 worldwide, expect in Japan and some other parts of Asia. We aim to apply for approval to sell ME5343 in Japan in 2012 and overseas in 2013. In parallel, we are considering a product supply system with BASF. We are preparing to apply for approval of AF-02 as an effective fungicide against rice blast, and we plan to start sales of a flowable product to cater to users’ needs. We are developing ANM-138 as an insecticide to control thrips and cabbage moths, aiming for approval in 2013.

Source: JCWeb