Top Message

As we approach our 100th anniversary, the Suzuken Group aims to become a health creation enterprise that generates various forms of value in the field of health creation.

Despite the persistently challenging business environment, the Group must continue to grow in order to maintain its function as a social infrastructure in the area of pharmaceutical distribution. Therefore, we are working ambidextrously, reforming existing businesses, primarily pharmaceutical wholesaling, and preparing for new growth businesses through the use of digital technology. This policy, which I established upon becoming president in FY2022, has been explained using a matrix diagram both internally and externally, and is being implemented.

First, as a pharmaceutical wholesaler, we must respond to the need to improve distribution and reform our sales operations to focus on the bottom line. In improving distribution, we strive to ensure fair profits by carefully negotiating prices that are commensurate with the value of each individual ethical drug. We have worked to reform our cost structure, including changing employee mindsets and processes from order receipt to delivery, which has resulted in improved operating profit margin, and I feel that a profit-focused approach has firmly taken root. However, an increase in selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses is inevitable in the future due to inflation and increased employee compensation. Even under these circumstances, in order to continue investing for the future, we need to increase sales while maintaining our gross profit margin.

Rather than simply pursuing sales, we believe it is imperative to prioritize the balance between gross profit and costs, transform our sales system into one that is more effective and efficient, and acquire new revenue by providing added value. In order to build an effective and efficient sales system, in addition to the traditional in-person touchpoints with customers through Marketing Specialists (MS), we are expanding touchpoints through the use of digital technology. We aim to expand and improve the quality of customer touchpoints, including strengthening back-end functions that digitally support and streamline in-person touchpoints. Ultimately, we aim to integrate the information accumulated through our daily work with information obtained from digital tools such as the COLLABO Portal and the Cubixx solution developed by the Group. By providing this integrated information to pharmaceutical companies and other organizations, we intend to generate new revenue streams through service fees for these functions.

Additionally, we are focusing on expanding business in Asia to strengthen our existing pharmaceutical distribution operations. In South Korea, we are working with our local partner, BOKSANNICE Co., Ltd., thereby strengthening our pharmaceutical distribution base. As part of this initiative, in May 2025, we established a new business partnership with South Korea’s DONGWON Group. From our experience to date, we have realized that the capabilities and know-how we have cultivated in Japan are also valuable in pharmaceutical distribution in South Korea. We are therefore keen to contribute to the further development of the South Korean pharmaceutical industry

In an effort to strengthen our foundation for pharmaceutical distribution, following the April 2024 launch of the Greater Tokyo Distribution Center, we are planning to build a new automated logistics center in Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture, to cover the entire Chubu area. Going forward, we plan to build a similar logistics center in the Kinki area, thereby strengthening our BCP (Business Continuity Plan) capabilities for the Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka regions and ensuring an even more stable supply of pharmaceuticals. In turn, this will contribute to the further development of community healthcare and the revitalization of local communities by creating new jobs.

In addition, we are also working to evolve toward smart logistics. Smart logistics aims to simultaneously improve profitability and resolve social issues by combining digital technology with distribution and leveraging the resulting information. The heart of this system is Cubixx, a specialty drug traceability solution launched in 2017. It is currently being introduced at over 500 medical institutions, primarily university hospitals and designated cancer hospitals across Japan. Furthermore, in 2024, we developed Cubixx DT, which enables remote medication management for home-based patients. We are also working on developing more advanced capabilities, including initiating joint research with the Cancer Institute Hospital of JFCR. These efforts successfully reduced pharmaceutical waste by around 5.7 billion yen in FY2024.

By integrating the data on distribution, management, and usage of pharmaceuticals obtained through the Cubixx solution with customer inventory information obtained from sources such as contract distribution business for manufacturers (“manufacturer distribution”), the nationwide transportation and distribution network, wholesale distribution, and our delivery schedule and order proposal apps, we will further advance the visualization of distribution inventory. Through these efforts, we are committed to contributing to the resolution of social issues in pharmaceutical logistics, such as further improving delivery efficiency, eliminating inventory imbalances, and reducing pharmaceutical waste

The Group possesses nationwide logistics capabilities that cover the entire supply chain, from manufacturer distribution and wholesale distribution all the way to the last mile for patients. Today, 20 years after entering the manufacturer distribution business, we are committed to evolving into a company that can provide even greater value. We aim to achieve this by further strengthening our capabilities and developing comprehensive logistics proposals and contract logistics services that combine the various capabilities of our partner companies.

Currently, we are particularly focused on our initiatives in the new domain of digital healthcare. Under the policy of “Visualize, Connect, Change” established when we announced our medium-term management plan in 2023, we have aimed to visualize previously unobservable information through the use of digital technology, connect people and things through information sharing, and thereby transform current societal and industry challenges for the better. Central to this endeavor is the comprehensive platform for medical digital transformation, COLLABO Portal, which has successfully established connections with more than 410,000 medical and nursing care professionals in just about 18 months since its launch. In this regard, we are proud to have built an extremely valuable information platform, unparalleled by any other companies.

In addition to the Group’s traditional assets, which include a network of some 160,000 hospitals and pharmacies nationwide, we have gained connections with over 410,000 individuals. This expansion not only enables us to provide medical and nursing care professionals with information and materials that benefit the care of patients and nursing care service users, but also to provide manufacturers with a variety of marketing support targeting these professionals. Through COLLABO Portal, more than 40 projects are already underway or being considered, including seminars and digital exhibitions tailored to the attributes of medical and nursing care professionals. We have received feedback from not only pharmaceutical companies but also many other companies interested in the healthcare domain who are keen to embark on new ventures with the Group.

On the other hand, there are still challenges in organizing and utilizing information effectively. To fully capitalize on the data we collect, we are building a “Group Information Integration Platform” across the Group. This platform will enable the centralized management of both historically and future-acquired information, while also leveraging generative AI. Our strategy is built on three pillars: first, building strong connections with medical and nursing care professionals; second, carefully organizing the information we obtain in our daily operations; and third, continuously enhancing the accuracy of this information. By thoroughly implementing these three steps, I am confident that the Group can pioneer a unique information business.

FY2025 is an important year for our growth strategy. In Japan, it also marks 30 years since the shocking events of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. When the sarin gas attack occurred, our MS traveled from our headquarters in Nagoya to Tokyo by Shinkansen, resourcefully collecting vital antidote stock from our various branches along the route, and swiftly delivered antidotes for 230 people to medical institutions. This action was also featured on a television program aired in March of this year, providing an opportunity to reaffirm the significant role we played. Additionally, when earthquakes and other natural disasters occur, employees in each region have independently taken initiative to support community healthcare on the ground. This attitude clearly conveys our sense of mission to reliably deliver pharmaceuticals to our valued customers, as well as our DNA of contributing to society, which has been passed down through generations within the Group. It is through the cumulative efforts of each individual employee that the Group has become an indispensable presence in Japanese healthcare.

I believe that my greatest mission as a leader is to cultivate our people. The Group fosters a culture that gives opportunities to those ready to take them. I myself was given many opportunities to take on challenges, such as starting up a manufacturer distribution business at the age of 38 and being entrusted with the role of president. Drawing from my own experience, I hope that the next generation of employees will also embrace challenges to pursue their own dreams and goals, thereby achieving self-realization through their work. Certainly, taking on challenges requires both time and skill. However, our Group’s employees are actively making efforts, for example, through reskilling initiatives and by submitting proposals to the Group proposal platform, “Chienowa.” I truly look forward to seeing our young employees take on new challenges and grow into a vibrant Group in a few years’ time.

The Group has expanded into a wide range of businesses in the healthcare domain, not only in pharmaceutical wholesaling but also in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and materials, as well as pharmacies and nursing care.

The Group consists of approximately 50 subsidiaries and around 13,000 employees, and we also have partnerships with many other companies. We value the idea of “One Team,” where these people and organizations operate together as a cohesive unit. With this in mind, the future I envision is a Group that contributes to solving social issues through its strategic recombination of capabilities. This involves deconstructing and recombining the capabilities accumulated within the Group during our transformation to provide new and optimized solutions for the challenges faced by pharmaceutical companies, medical and nursing care professionals, and local communities.

Our next medium-term management plan, which will begin in FY2026, will be a phase of growth toward realizing our goal of becoming a health creation enterprise.

Leveraging new businesses born from our unique and unparalleled strategic recombination of capabilities, we will respond to various social needs and contribute to solving problems. I am confident that the new solutions we have developed in this way will become a treasure trove intrinsically linked to the management philosophy of “learning from our customers,” which is deeply rooted in the Group. We are excited for you to witness the new world that the Suzuken Group will create.