■Growth Strategy

2. New product development and new business creation

As a strategy for medium-term growth of Sanyo Chemical Industries (4471), as a specialty chemical company that contributes to sustainable economic growth and solutions to social issues through business, we will utilize our own technology and alliances, and promote the development of new products and new businesses such as the functional protein “silkerastin (R)” created using genetically modified technology, surgical hemostatic materials, agri nutrition, and odor sensors using the Blue Ocean Strategy It's there.

(1) Biomedical business field

In the biomedical business field, we are expanding our business to achieve improved quality of life. Joint development of the novel therapeutic material “silk elastin (R),” which has high potential as a scaffold for promoting repair and regeneration of biological tissues, proceeded with joint development with Professor Morimoto Naoki of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine Department of Plastic Surgery for wound healing applications, and a manufacturing and sales approval application was made in 2024/7. Then, in 2024/10, a license agreement was signed with Kankaku Pharmaceutical regarding exclusive sales rights for the new wound treatment material “silk elastin (R) wound sheet” within Japan. Thus, in addition to a lump-sum contract payment, a fixed royalty for sales is received from Kagaku Pharmaceutical. The market size is expected to be 9 billion yen domestically and 90 billion yen in the US. In addition to wound healing applications, “silk elastin (R)” is being developed for meniscus regeneration material applications (doctor-led clinical trials completed at Hiroshima University Hospital, market size is expected to be 12 billion yen domestically, 127 billion yen in the US) and pulmonary leak embolizer applications (non-clinical trial stage, market size is expected to be 1.4 billion yen domestically, 25 billion yen in the US), and they aim to generate 6 billion yen in operating profit in Japan and the US in 2030.

The surgical hemostatic material “Hydrofit (R)” is a surgical hemostatic material made of urethane material that reacts with water to form a flexible film. It is used for anastomoses during surgery to replace thoracic aorta or arcuate branch artery with artificial blood vessels. It is manufactured by the company, and sales are outsourced to Terumo ＜4543＞. Domestic sales began as the company's first medical device in 2014/2, CE marking was obtained in 2019/7, and expansion into the European market began, and adaptation expanded to hemostatic materials for total blood vessel anastomoses excluding cerebral blood vessels in 2020/3. In addition to starting sales in Hong Kong in July 2021, regulatory approval for medical devices was obtained in Taiwan, and clinical use began in December of the same year.

In June 2022, FUJIFILM Sanyo Chemical Healthcare Co., Ltd. was established in collaboration with Fujifilm Corporation, and production of in vitro diagnostic pharmaceuticals used as dedicated reagents for Fujifilm Wako Pure Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.'s automated chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay analyzer “Accuraseed (R)” (Acura Seed) began in October of the same year. Along with this, it was changed to a system where manufacturing was consolidated into Fujifilm Sanyo Kasei Healthcare.

(2) Agri-nutrition business field

As a business development into the agri-nutrition field, we are researching and developing the use of peptides (peptide agriculture). In addition to forming a capital and business alliance with Pharma Foods in March 2021, a partnership agreement was concluded with Shintomi-cho in Miyazaki prefecture aiming for sustainable agriculture in June of the same year. Utilizing peptide technology to grow crops, we aim to put technology that can contribute to sustainable agriculture into practical use. Furthermore, the “Agri-Nutrition Basic Plan” was formulated with Pharma Foods in September of the same year. The plan is to establish new peptide agriculture and expand agricultural support in earnest in Shintomi-cho, Miyazaki-ken.

In 2022/8, a capital and business alliance was formed with ENEGGO, which develops liquid fertilizer derived from eggs. ENEGGO is developing the world's first liquid fertilizer containing egg-derived organic amino acids by solubilizing proteins contained in eggshells and eggshell membranes, which are waste products, extracting amino acids important for plant growth. We aim to establish peptide agriculture at an early stage through fusion with peptide technology and pipeline expansion, which is the core of the “Agri-Nutrition Basic Plan.”

(3) Odor Sensors

A joint commercialization agreement was agreed with Nagase Sangyo ＜8012＞ in 2021/7 for an “odor sensor” applying AI technology. The characteristic of “odor sensors” is that they are composed of resin materials incorporating interface control technology. Digital olfactory technology, which combines advanced AI technology with odor detection materials and digitally identifies and quantifies specific odors, is expected to be applied in environmental monitoring, medical fields, and lifestyle-related fields such as food and beverages. The odor sensor “flavotone (flavotone),” which began selling in 2023/11, can visualize not only specific odors but also complex odors, so solutions such as quality control, characteristic comparison, and monitoring based on smell can be provided. Furthermore, in addition to sales, in addition to rental and contract analysis, they also provide services such as solution proposals for individual issues.

(4) Others

A capital and business alliance was formed with Rohto Pharmaceutical in December 2021. Starting with the skincare/medical field where both companies are focusing, we aim to expand our business and improve corporate value by strategically utilizing mutual resources to develop unique raw materials and apply them to new functions and different industries.

In January 2022, it took a capital investment in FLOSFIA Co., Ltd., a venture company from Kyoto University. FLOSFIA is working on commercialization of semiconductor devices using the cutting-edge semiconductor material “corundum structured gallium oxide (α-Ga2O3),” which has overwhelming material potential as a power semiconductor used for power conversion. It is a policy to strengthen cooperation with FLOSFIA through capital participation and support the establishment of mass production processes for power semiconductors and social implementation of power modules. Furthermore, in 2023/12, by combining FLOSFIA board embedding technology with fuse elements independently developed by the company, we succeeded in developing a micro thermal fuse that can be embedded into a board even in ultra-compact and thin power modules.

A biodegradable fertilizer coating material was developed in 2022/12. Using the biodegradable resin “Neoriza (R)” of Biomass Resin Holdings Co., Ltd., which develops and sells biomass plastic “Rice Resin (R)” using inedible rice, we will contribute to the realization of sustainable agriculture, such as solving soil contamination problems caused by remaining non-biodegradable plastics (coating shells) after fertilizer components are eluted using interface control technology that the company excels at. In 2024/4, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Econic Technologies Ltd (Econic Technologies Ltd), an English deep technology company specializing in renewable carbon, regarding CO2 polyol manufacturing business development. Utilizing Econic's CO2 utilization technology, we are proceeding with efforts aimed at carbon neutral, which is the company's priority field. In July of the same year, a kneaded deodorant “Kechnal,” suitable for environmentally friendly plastics, was developed.

(Author: FISCO Visiting Analyst Masashi Mizuta Exhibition)