SustainabilitySocial Contribution Activities

The Sawai Group believes that its business itself can help resolve societal issues. As a corporate group that plays a role in reducing healthcare costs and maintaining social infrastructure, we hope to contribute to solutions to the societal issues of rising healthcare costs and drug shortages by continuing to provide a stable supply of high-quality, high-added-value generic drugs at a more affordable price than original drugs. All Sawai Group employees carry out their daily duties with strong awareness of the importance of serving society through their business activities.

The Group Code of Conduct includes the following statements about our efforts to serve society. We aim to realize a sustainable society in collaboration with local communities.

Sawai Group Social Contribution Policy

Guided by our corporate philosophy, “Dedicated to building a healthier future for all,” we will contribute through our very business to healthier lives of people and advancement of medical and pharmaceutical sciences, as well as healthcare. In addition, we will be proactively committed to social welfare, environmental conservation, recovery from disasters, and the development of the next generation.

1. As a good corporate citizen, we will make constant efforts to engage with all stakeholders, aiming to coexist in harmony with local communities and help them become healthier and more sustainable.
2. As contributors to healthy development of society, we, Sawai Group officers and employees, recognize the importance of volunteer activities and will take the initiative in participating in and supporting those activities.

Contribution through business activities

Further pursuing added value in pharmaceuticals

When we develop generic drugs, we focus on adding extra value to them. In each product, we incorporate patient-centered enhancements: for example, downsizing tablets for easier swallowing, imprinting tablets with information for easier tablet identification, and designing foldable blister packaging that allows patients to take tablets out more easily.

Our efforts to refine our technologies that make these improvements possible have produced a fruit called “SAWAI HARMOTECH_®,” a brand for the suite of Sawai Pharmaceutical’s proprietary formulation technologies for easier swallowing and handling of tablets. By leveraging our portfolio of patented SAWAI HARMOTECH_® technologies to make medicines easier to take and handle while continuously tackling the social challenge of maintaining a stable supply of medicines, we contribute to building a healthier future for all.

SAWAI HARMOTECH_® (PDF: 1,127KB)opens in new window

Addressing patients’ concern about medication

Many patients who take medication feel concerned about various matters related to the medicines. The Sawai Group develops pharmaceuticals that help ease their concern and encourage them to stay engaged with their treatment.

We aspire to ensure that patients feel assured when they see the name of “SAWAI” on medicines or their packages. We also aspire to serve each and every patient with real empathy for them, grounded in scientific insights. These aspirations gave rise to our technology brand named “QualityHug_®.” The QualityHug_® brand features Sawai Pharmaceutical’s proprietary technologies that are designed, based on its deep understanding of patients’ concerns and worries, to provide them with solutions through its scientific and engineering prowess—for example, the technologies for making Sawai’s pharmaceutical products instantly recognizable as they are at a glance and for mitigating the risk of contamination of medicines by carcinogenic nitrosamine impurities.

We believe that the safe and secure medicines we deliver to society lead to the healthier lives of people. We will continue to be committed to easing patients’ concern about medication through science and technology, thereby contributing to a society where every patient can be engaged in treatment with peace of mind.

* A 2024 Good Design Award winner

QualityHug_®opens in new window

* Japanese Language Website

Sharing information that supports the healthy lives of people

Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, operates a health information website named “Sawai Health Promotion Section” to constantly provide the general public with information under expert supervision. Covering a wide range of themes—such as prevention and pre-illness care, health management, healthcare systems, and disease awareness and education—the website is operated with high priority placed on neutrality, credibility, and clarity.

In FY2024, the website recorded approximately 42.7 million annual page views and about 23.4 million annual unique users, showing its status as a widely accessed platform.
Guided by the Sawai Group’s corporate philosophy, “Dedicated to building a healthier future for all,” we will continue to foster health awareness across society and promote better health.

Sawai Health Promotion Sectionopens in new window

* Japanese Language Website

Healthcare and welfare

Supporting the “Docodemo EXPO” project

Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, is sponsoring the “Docodemo EXPO” project^*1 implemented by the Special Kids Future Vision Challenge Consortium.^*2

The “Docodemo EXPO” project is an initiative planned in conjunction with Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, designed to allow children (“Special Kids”) who have difficulty visiting the actual Expo site due to serious illnesses, intractable diseases, or disabilities to experience the event. By utilizing telepresence avatar robots to connect those children at medical facilities or at home with Expo pavilions, this experiential project enables them to interact with people at the Expo site. This initiative also serves as an experiment in creating a future society together with these children.

Furthermore, the technologies and expertise developed through this project will continue to be utilized to provide various experiences to Special Kids even after the closing of the Expo.

A “Docodemo EXPO” event held at a medical facility attracted approximately 100 participants, including children who were inpatients or outpatients at the facility and their parents. The event featured a real-time connection with popular Expo pavilions, as well as public viewing through avatar robots, providing the children with an immersive experience of the Expo site and making them feel as if they were actually there.

When children spoke to staff at the pavilions, the on-site staff responded and then explained exhibits or asked them quiz questions, filling the event venue with smiles and excitement.

*1 A project that has been selected as a participating exhibitor in the “Robot Experience” category of the “Smart Mobility Expo” project, one of the "Future Society Showcase” projects at the 2025 World Exposition (Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan)

*2 A voluntary organization formed by companies that support the vision of a pediatric neurologist in Osaka, with the aim of using technology to present various worlds and possibilities to “Special Kids”

Supporting the International Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Friendship Games OSAKA CUP

Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, supports the International Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Friendship Games OSAKA CUP, which is held in Osaka every February, as a Special Sponsor. This international tournament brings together national women’s wheelchair basketball teams for high-level competition. By supporting this event, Sawai Pharmaceutical provides the opportunity to promote both public understanding of people with disabilities and international exchange through sports.

During the tournament, community engagement events designed to connect local residents with the national teams and hands-on experience programs focusing on wheelchair basketball are also held, attracting many participants, from children to adults. Through these activities, we aim to help build a society in which everyone can enjoy sports and understand each other regardless of disability.

We will continue to value promoting sports, respecting diversity, and collaborating with local communities through our sponsorship of this tournament and other measures, thereby actively advancing our social contribution initiatives.

Go to the website of the International Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Friendship Games OSAKA CUP (Japanese Language Website)

The International Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Friendship Games OSAKA CUPopens in new window

Support for Medical Shinansha

We sponsor the activities of Medical Shinansha, a nonprofit organization that utilizes database technology to help regional medical care. As technology advances, the importance of diagnostic imaging is increasing, but there is a shortage of specialists with sufficient diagnostic imaging skills. Medical Shinansha is an organization that provides a diagnostic imaging knowledge service named “Dokuei-shinan (Image Reading Guidance),” which enables computers (AI) to support and train medical professionals by teaching them the knowledge, experience, and cases of diagnostic imaging held by university hospitals, and provides a mechanism for sharing diagnostic imaging skills with medical professionals at small and medium-sized hospitals and clinics where specialists are not present.

Go to the website of Medical Shinansha (Japanese Language Website)

Medical Shinansha

Support for the Japan Human Milk Bank Association

Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, supports the activities of the Japan Human Milk Bank Association, a general incorporated association that operates human milk banks. A human milk bank is a facility where breast milk donated by mothers who produce more breast milk than their own babies need is properly pasteurized, tested for bacteria, frozen and stored, and then provided to preterm babies or low birthweight babies. The Japan Human Milk Bank Association, established in 2017, has expanded its activities year by year as public awareness of the organization has increased. We support the organization’s activities, which we believe to be socially significant in that they contribute to saving young lives.

Go to the website of the Japan Human Milk Bank Association (Japanese Language Website)

Japan Human Milk Bank Association

Dementia supporter training program

We invited a staff member of the Yodogawa Ward East Center for Community-based Comprehensive Support in Osaka City to give a lecture in a dementia supporter training program. This program was aimed at allowing Sawai Group employees to understand the feelings of dementia patients and their families, acquire basic knowledge of the disease, and learn how to interact with dementia patients. The program provides attendees with the opportunity to learn what they can do as a supporter. They will be able to become a “dementia supporter” by completing the program. To date, a total of 185 Sawai Group employees have been awarded an orange ring to mark their status as a dementia supporter.

Support for the Pink Ribbon Campaign

From February 2021, the Sawai Group introduced vending machines that donate a portion of their sales to the Pink Ribbon campaign. The relevant vending machines are located at the head office, factory, sales branches, etc., and those machines have distinctive design features, including pink coating. A portion of the sales will be donated to organizations that support activities aimed at reducing the number of people suffering from breast cancer.

Environmental conservation

Participating in Osaka Prefecture’s forest adoption program

We participate in forest and rural (agricultural) land conservation activities through Osaka Prefecture’s forest adoption program. We are actively engaged in forest conservation, aiming to protect the local natural environment and contribute to realization of a sustainable society.

In the forest adoption program, Osaka Prefecture provides a matching service between companies or organizations that wish to participate in forest creation activities and forest owners in the prefecture to enable those companies and organizations to “adopt” particular forests or rural (agricultural) land and work to conserve them over a certain period. As one of the participating companies in the program, we conduct various activities, including forest maintenance work, such as thinning, undergrowth clearing, and tree planting, as well as environmental education and interaction with volunteers from local communities, with the aim of achieving sustainability in both forest creation and conservation of satoyama (forest land used and maintained mainly for agricultural purposes by local communities).

Forests play essential roles in our lives, including preventing global warming, conserving biodiversity, and nurturing water resources. However, in recent years, forest degradation and shortages of forest caretakers have posed us significant challenges. Forests also contribute to protecting rural (agricultural) land against damage from wildlife such as deer caused by increasingly blurred boundaries between mountainous areas and rural land due to an increase in abandoned farmland. The forest adoption program aims to protect the local natural environment and pass on rich forests and satoyama/rural land to future generations by encouraging companies and organizations to take the initiative in forest and rural land conservation. Furthermore, these activities lead to enhanced environmental awareness and strengthened connections between those companies/organizations and local communities.

Participating in endangered species conservation activities

We participate in local efforts to conserve the Itasenpara, a freshwater fish species designated as a Natural Monument by the Japanese government and listed as an endangered species. The Itasenpara is a small kind of bitterling-like cyprinid that was once commonly seen in rivers across the Kansai region, including the Yodo River. However, its population has declined drastically due to changes in river environments, the spread of non-native fish, and a reduction in its habitats, resulting in its inclusion in the Japanese Ministry of the Environment’s Red List (list of endangered and threatened wildlife species).

As shown by its selection as the symbol species for the Action Guidelines on Public-Private Partnership for Biodiversity of the Yodo River, the Itasenpara is an icon of the region’s biodiversity. Twice every year, we eradicate individuals of non-native fish species and clean up the riverbanks at the Shirokita Wando backwaters in Asahi Ward, Osaka City, which is close to the place of the founding of Sawai,. These activities are essential for maintaining a safe habitat and spawning environment for the Itasenpara.

This initiative has also provided our employees with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the value of biodiversity and environmental conservation and strengthen their ties with the local community. We will continue these efforts to help safeguard precious wildlife, including the Itasenpara, and hand it down to future generations.

Visit the corporate website of our Group company for information on its environmental conservation initiatives.

Sawai Pharmaceutical’s environmental conservation initiatives

Contribution to the local community

Factory tours

In the belief that improving access to healthcare requires promoting public understanding of generic drugs, the Sawai Group actively offers factory tours to people from various walks of life. Tour participants include elementary school to higher education students and members of local neighborhood associations and parent–teacher associations, as well as those from medical institutions.

On these tours, participants closely observe the ongoing steps in manufacturing generic drugs and listen to detailed explanations given by Sawai staff about our quality control and safety assurance practices. We also respond in detail to questions from participants, aiming to dispel public doubt and concern about medicines.

Through this initiative, we aim not only to help the tour participants deepen their understanding of the Sawai Group and of generic drugs but also to be a trusted, approachable member of the community. We will continue to offer this kind of factory tour while valuing ongoing engagement with local residents.

Blood donation activities

Blood for transfusion cannot be artificially produced nor stored for a long period of time, so continuous cooperation among people is essential to support stable medical use of blood transfusion. For over 40 years, the Sawai Group has conducted blood donation activities to encourage its employees to donate blood. The aging population combined with a declining birth rate in Japan has led to a decline in the younger population who can donate blood, resulting in a serious shortage of blood nationwide. As part of its efforts to realize healthier lives for all, the Sawai Group will continue to conduct the blood donation activities at its business locations across the country.

Fukui Sakura Marathon

Fukui Prefecture was the only prefecture without a full marathon, but Trust Pharmatech, a Sawai Group company, sponsored the Fukui Sakura Marathon, which was held in conjunction with the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in 2024. The event, which is “the last but the newest full marathon of a new generation” and aims to produce top runners who aim to run on the world stage, nurture junior athletes in the prefecture, and utilize digital technology, is based on the concept of “run, watch, support and connect full marathon,” and we hope that it will inspire not only local people but people all over the world.

Supporting human resource development for future generations

Donations to UNICEF

In support of UNICEF's activities to protect the lives and futures of children around the world, our employees are raising funds for UNICEF in various ways. Since 2014, we have been asking employees to bring in used books from their homes and donating the proceeds from their sales to UNICEF. In addition, in 2022, we made a donation through UNICEF to provide humanitarian support to those affected by the disaster in Ukraine and those who have been forced to evacuate to the surrounding areas, and were awarded the Medal of Honor with Dark Blue Ribbon.

Publication of Secrets of Generics

Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, supervised the publication of “The Secret of Generics” as part of the “Gakken Manga Easy to Understand Series” and donated it to approximately 21,500 elementary schools and approximately 3,200 public libraries nationwide. This series is an educational manga for elementary school students that has been recommended by the Japan PTA National Council and is also used as a supplementary teaching material at school, and has been loved by readers for over 20 years. “The Secret of Generics” clearly explains to elementary school students the characteristics and manufacturing methods of generic drugs, and how they can contribute to reducing national medical expenses, and also includes a “column” that is useful for families. We hope that this book will deepen children's interest and understanding of generic drugs, and serve as an opportunity to contribute to the realization of a more prosperous society.

Disaster relief activities

We make donations to help people affected by earthquakes or other disasters recover and return to a healthy life as soon as possible. In addition, to respect employees' wishes to support disaster relief, we have launched an initiative in which the company will match employee donations (matching contributions) from 2024. We have also created an environment that makes it easier for employees to donate, such as by setting up a UNICEF donation as part of the cafeteria plan system, which is one of the employee benefit programs.