Daiichi Sankyo Korea said it would expand its business in Kora to anticancer areas based on its success in the non-vitamin K oral anticoagulant (NOAC) market.

Daiichi Sankyo Korea CEO Kim Dae-jung explains the company’s mid- and long term goals, during a news conference at the Westin Chosun Seoul on Wednesday.

“We plan to become a specialized company in the field of anti-cancer while continuing to maximize our capacity as a cardiovascular pharmaceutical company,” Daiichi Sankyo Korea CEO Kim Dae-jung said in a news conference Wednesday.

The company will provide more direct benefits to Korean patients by establishing an anticancer division and supplying therapeutic agents, he added.

Such a decision came after the Daiichi Sankyo Group, Daiichi Sankyo Korea’s parent group, set its vision of becoming a company that has strengths in the anticancer drug areas and set up a mid- to long-term strategy to launch seven new drugs in the field by 2025. Under the new plan, Daiichi Sankyo Korea plans to create an anti-cancer business division supported by medical, marketing and sales subdivision, he said.

For example, the company plans to introduce here Vanflyta (Ingredient: Quizartinib), a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, as the first anticancer drug in Korea. The drug received orphan drug designation (ODD) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 1, and the company plans to launch the drug in Korea by 2020.

Kim also mentioned the company’s goal to strengthen the company’s cardiovascular division further.

“The Olmesartan family, one of our core products lines, consists of 17 compositions, offering a variety of treatment options for patients with hypertension and dyslipidemia,” Kim said. “In particular, Olmetec has an excellent coercive effect in the formulations of the Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers family.”

Despite patent expiration for Olmesartan in 2013, the drug’s sales have continued to grow 15 percent annually, he added.

Lixiana, which improved the convenience of use, has grown to become the most prescribed product in the NOAC market within four years of its domestic launch, carving up a 33.9 percent share in the NOAC market as of March, the CEO emphasized.

“Armed with differentiated competitiveness in the cardiovascular field, Daiichi Sankyo Korea has seen an average annual growth rate of 15 percent since 2014, and the number of employees has increased to more than three times,” Kim said. “Our company plans to continue to expand its local partnership by strengthening its expertise in the cardiovascular field.”

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