Towa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (President Itsuro Yoshida, located in Kadoma, Osaka), Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (President Hiroyuki Sawai, located in Asahi-ku, Osaka), and Nichi-iko Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (President Yuichi Tamura, located in Toyama), reached a basic agreement that the three companies will collaborate to supply equivalents to all the formulations in which the original products are available.

[Process and outline in reaching the basic agreement]
The reform of the Medical Healthcare System effective from this year prescribes the promotion of generic products, for which the manufacturers of generic products must prepare all strengths for both of their new and existing products. Notification from the Director of the Health Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as of March 10 clarified the details, which prescribe that the market registration of the strengths which prior brand products have but generic products do not have should be made up by the end of March 2010 and procedure of reimbursement price list must be completed by July 2011. That is to say generic manufacturer should possess all strengths that brand companies are marketing, regardless of their marketability, for stable supply of generic products that is one of the condition of governmental promotional policy for generic products.
According to the Notification, each manufacturer of generic products needs to make up many market registrations that require considerable cost and time. Given such problems, the three aforementioned companies have discussed and reached an agreement to jointly address the issue.