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.

Contribution through business activities

Formulation innovations

When developing and designing generic drug formulations, we make it a rule to take into consideration how patients will take them. We elaborate each product in various aspects, such as designing it in small capsules to make it easier to take, printing the names and amounts of ingredients on tablets to improve identifiability, and using packaging sheets designed for users to write the dates of taking the drug.

Among the technologies that make these innovations possible, we have named our original formulation technology for which we have applied for and obtained a patent “SAWAI HARMOTECH_®.” By adding value to drugs and making them easier to take and handle, we contribute to realizing healthier lives for everyone.

Providing information on health management

The website of Sawai Pharmaceutical, a Sawai Group company, provides information that helps patients in health management. In addition to basic information about generic drugs and our initiatives to ensure their quality, we have a health information website named “Sawai Health Promotion Section,” which provides a variety of information on healthcare, including information on pre-symptomatic diseases and preventive measures, disease awareness, and health promotion. “Sawai Health Promotion Section” has been used by a large number of people, with more than 45 million page views in 2023.

Healthcare and welfare

Support for 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 City every February, as a special sponsor. The tournament is held with the aims of promoting international friendship and understanding of people with disabilities by offering local people the opportunity to interact with members of various national teams and to have hands-on experience of playing wheelchair basketball.

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

Participation in activities for conserving an endangered species

The Itasenpara bitterling, a kind of bitterling, is an endangered fish species designated as a “Natural Monument” by the Japanese Government. This species was quite common in the Yodo River long ago, but its population so drastically decreased that no individuals of the species were observed at one point in time. In hope of protecting the Itasenpara bitterling, the symbol of the Action Guidelines on Public-Private Partnership for Biodiversity of the Yodo River, we hold an activity event at Shirokita Wando (Shirokita Inlet) in Asahi Ward, Osaka City, which is close to the place of our founding, twice a year, where participants eradicate individuals of foreign fish species and clean up the riverbanks.

Publication of an in-house magazine on the environment

We are publishing an in-house magazine titled Environment Magazine with the aim of raising environmental awareness among Sawai Group employees. This magazine shares the Group’s environmental initiatives and annual targets with employees and gives plain explanations of environmental issues and topics both in Japan and abroad, thereby providing opportunities for employees to think about the environment.

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, we accept factory tours to show the generic drug manufacturing process to groups of general visitors, such as elementary school to university students, members of local residents’ association, and PTAs, as well as groups from medical institutions. We have constantly held this kind of event not only to deepen the public’s understanding of the Sawai Group and generic drugs but also to serve to the local community as one of its members.

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.