China key link in global 'wellness' innovation

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group has been closely linked with China since the 1981 establishment of China Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, a pioneering partnership between a foreign and Chinese company in the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

Backed by 106 separate affiliates in 18 countries and regions around the world, the pharmaceutical giant now provides a wide range of proprietary pharmaceutical products, clinical nutritionals (intravenous solutions), diagnostic agents and medical foods, as well as several food and beverage products.

Set up in 1921, the company initially produced and sold chemical raw materials. In 1946 it entered the pharmaceutical business with a range of intravenous (IV) solutions.