Educating employees
We strictly adhere to specific processes to ensure that our pharmaceutical business activities are always carried out in a responsible and appropriate way. We provide e-learning to help employees understand the importance of drug safety and quality assurance. All of the employees in our pharmaceutical business complete a mandatory e-learning course every year.
Employees based at JT’s Central Pharmaceutical Research Institute regularly attend training programs in areas including animal experiment, the ethics of research on human-derived tissue samples and information managing chemical substances, and environmental management. This helps to keep their skills and knowledge up to date.
R&D that ensures ethical integrity
Our research activities are carried out in an ethical manner and comply with all relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards.
We have established in-house regulations on animal experiments based on government legislation. Our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee ensures that we follow the ‘3R’ concept: Replacing laboratory animals with other research materials where possible; Reducing the number of animals used; and Refining experiments to prevent animals from suffering unnecessary pain and distress.
We carry out periodic in-house inspections and assessments to ensure that we comply with regulations. Our practices are accredited by the Japan Pharmaceutical Information Center.
For research using human-derived tissue samples and information our Research Ethic Review Committee, which follows the Japanese government guideline “Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects” and consists of both internal and external members, examines the ethical justification and scientific validity of the research.
We have built a chemical management system that manages every process centrally, from the moment we take delivery of the chemicals through to their storage, use, and eventual disposal. This system allows us to manage the quantity of chemical substances and adhere to the latest regulatory and safety information. Our employees undergo regular training on chemical safety risks so that they know how to handle chemicals in an appropriate manner.
Torii Pharmaceutical separates chemicals into categories requiring different levels of management, and has specific rules and procedures according to the characteristics and safety risks of each category of chemicals.
We publish quarterly clinical development status updates on our website. We invested 32.2 billion yen for research and development in 2023.
Quality assurance in the production of pharmaceutical products
We have developed our own guidelines on how to conduct annual inspections to ensure that our production methods fully comply with government recommendations. We started annual inspections in accordance with these guidelines in 2017. Since 2018, we have been operating inspections at all of our contracted factories.
Responsible promotion of drugs
We have our own standard on the ethical promotion of prescription drugs, based on the guidelines on sales information provision activities by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Medical Representatives of our subsidiary company Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. provide and gather information on pharmaceutical drugs to/from medical professionals appropriately, and regularly participate in training programs to ensure adherence to these guidelines. Through internal communication, we provide relevant and detailed information to our Medical Representatives to keep them up to date with the latest guidelines. Furthermore, after completing their initial training, all Medical Representatives take a mandatory e-learning course once a month.
We also conduct training sessions, which include case studies of violations that have occurred in Japan and important points to consider when providing lectures for medical professionals.
Transparency of partnerships
In order to develop more effective drugs, we build partnerships with research institutes, universities, and medical institutions. When we make financial contributions to our partners, we strive to ensure transparency by disclosing these payments on our website.
Case study
Case study
For the Patients Project
We have an internal educational activity to foster employees’ ethical awareness and sense of responsibility towards saving patients.
We offer this program continuously, both internally and externally, by engaging in dialogue with medical experts. Every year, around 10 employees participate in this program as a facilitator and learn more about patients’ medical needs. Their knowledge and findings are then shared across our business operations through reporting sessions and/or internal communication.
Case study
Patient input informs clinical development - patient-centricity*1
We have undertaken an initiative to incorporate patient opinions in pharmaceuticals development. (Major efforts in 2023)
- Calling this approach “patient centricity,” we continuously provide related information to employees to ensure they understand it.
- To communicate our appreciation to the participants in clinical trials*2, we send them thank-you letters.
- We are preparing a system to provide Patient Lay Summaries of the clinical results.
We will continue to incorporate patient opinions in the pharmaceuticals development process and work to make participation in clinical trials easier.
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*1
Read more about patient-centricity (patient-focused drug development) on the FDA website.
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*2
Tests performed on humans at the final stage of pharmaceutical development in order to collect and/or assess data concerning the results of a clinical study, including data on efficacy and safety. Human clinical trials are mandatory for “candidate drugs” to be approved by governments.
