SBI Holdings, Inc.
(TOKYO: 8473 / Hong Kong: 6488)
SBI ALApromo Co., Ltd., (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Yoshitaka Kitao; “SBI ALApromo”), a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc., that conducts research and development of cosmetics, health foods and pharmaceuticals using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)*1, hereby announces that it has obtained First-class Marketing Authorization to conduct business as a pharmaceutical company.
Also, as the SBI Group positions the ALA-related businesses as a future growth area, this occasion will be taken to restructure its corporate organization.
The current SBI ALApromo will change its corporate name to SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (tentative, hereinafter “SBI Pharma”) on April 1 this year, to operate as a pharmaceutical firm whose function will be the research and development of medicines, while a new company, SBI ALApromo Co., Ltd. (tentative, hereinafter “the new SBI ALApromo), will be established as a distributor company to expand cosmetics and health food sales. Also, the shares of each company will be transferred to a newly-established ALA Business Management Company. Under the new organizational structure, where both SBI Pharma and the new SBI ALApromo will be focused on their respective businesses, every effort will be made to further enhance the development of the ALA-related businesses, as well as the development of an overseas business.
SBI Pharma, in collaboration with Nobelpharma Co., Ltd., is promoting the introduction into Japan of a diagnostic agent for the surgical removal of malignant glioma (active ingredient: 5-aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride; hereinafter “the diagnostic agent” *2). This diagnostic agent received an orphan drug designation from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the enrollment for a phase-3 clinical testing has been completed in Japan. Going forward, SBI Pharma will actively promote the business of developing new medicines.
<Outline of SBI Pharma (current SBI ALApromo) >
1. Corporate name: SBI Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. （since April 1, 2012）
2. Representative: Yoshitaka Kitao
3. Head office: 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
4. Business: Development, manufacturing and sales of cosmetics, health foods and pharmaceuticals using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)
5. Capital: 3,293 million yen (As of the end of February, 2012）
<Outline of the new SBI ALApromo>
1. Corporate name: SBI ALApromo Co., Ltd. （since April 1, 2012）
2. Representative: Yasushi Takezaki
3. Head office: 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
4. Business: Manufacturing and sales of cosmetics and health foods using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)
5. Capital: 50 million yen (As of the end of February, 2012）
*1 About 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA):
An amino acid created in mitochondria. It is an important substance that serves as protein material related to energy production in the form of hemes and cytochromes, and its productivity is known to decrease with age. ALA is contained in shochu distillation remnants, red wine and food such as radish sprouts. It is also known as a material forming chloroplasts in plants.
*2 The diagnostic agent is an oral diagnostic agent for the photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) of tumor tissue in the surgical removal of malignant glioma. SBI ALApromo’s German joint venture partner medac GmbH won approval of the product from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), and it has been used in 27 European countries.
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For further information, please contact:
SBI Holdings, Inc. Corporate Communications Dept., Tel: +81 3 6229 0126
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