Global Business
Acceleration of Global Business Advancement
Accelerating Global Business through the Acquisition of Deciphera
Masayuki Tanigawa
Corporate Officer / Corporate Development & Strategy
Accelerating Global Business through the Acquisition of Deciphera
Masayuki Tanigawa
Corporate Officer / Corporate Development & Strategy
Our company is aiming to be a Global Specialty Pharma to deliver innovative medicines to patients worldwide. Last year, we acquired Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. biopharmaceutical company, gaining its research and development as well as its commercial capabilities in the U.S. and Europe. This has strengthened our own commercial capabilities in the U.S. and Europe and accelerated our global expansion. In our PMI (Post Merger Integration), we are deepening our understanding of management policies and organizational culture, building governance frameworks, and standardizing business processes. Deciphera will serve as an important base for the development and sales not only in oncology but also in other disease areas in the U.S. and Europe. Going forward, Deciphera will take the lead in driving the development and commercialization of tirabrutinib (ONO-4059) and sapablursen. To respond quickly to changing external environments, we established the Business Strategy Division to promote licensing and M&A, and the Global Business Division to drive global business expansion. Both divisions will utilize their expertise to boost agility and execution, working to expand and accelerate our global business.
Steps for Growing as a Global Company
Progress of Global Strategy
Strategy development through acquisition
We are aiming to be a Global Specialty Pharma that delivers innovative medicines to patients worldwide. To accelerate these efforts, we acquired Deciphera last year, obtaining their pipeline, research and development and commercial capabilities in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, with a view to further accelerating our global expansion, which is critical to our growth, we reorganized the functions of our local subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe. As part of this reorganization, the functions of ONO PHARMA USA, INC., which has played a key role as the U.S. base for development and commercials, will be integrated into Deciphera in July 2025. We have also closed the development functions of ONO PHARMA UK LTD. With the acquisition of a direct commercial capability in the U.S. and Europe through the Deciphera acquisition and functional consolidation in the U.S. and Europe, we have achieved the material issue in our growth strategy— Deciphera’s bases 400 total employees *As of March 2025 R&D and CMC functions based in the U.S. Commercialization network established in the U.S. and six countries in Europe U.S. Europe Headquarters (Development, Regulatory, Sales, Business Development, CMC) Waltham, Massachusetts Research Lawrence, Kansas European Commercial Headquarters Zug, Switzerland European Commercial Bases Munich, Germany Paris, France Milan, Italy Barcelona, Spain Amsterdam, Netherlands Realization of direct sales in the U.S. and Europe—and have updated our strategy to “Acceleration of Global Business Advancement.”
PMI progress (Integration of management, business operations, and organizational culture)
After acquiring Deciphera last year, we have strengthened our mutual understanding of management policies, current status, organizational culture, and operations. Further, in anticipation of PMI (Post Merger Integration), we have worked on establishing governance structures, standardizing business processes, examining the supply chain, integrating our medium-term management plans, and reorganizing the functions of our subsidiaries. As a result, Deciphera has become our group’s business hub for development and commercialization of not only existing oncology but also other disease areas in the U.S. and Europe, and is central to preparation for the development and commercialization of tirabrutinib (ONO-4059) and sapablursen, which we licensed globally from Ionis Pharmaceuticals. For pipeline drugs in the early development stage as well, we are building a structure with Deciphera to conduct global clinical trials together. Going forward, we will continue to enhance and strengthen Deciphera’s infrastructure, governance system, and business processes in the U.S. and Europe, accelerating and expanding our global business. In addition, we will further strengthen our pipeline by accelerating in-house R&D and creating opportunities to acquire new product candidates.
Challenges to be solved and future initiatives
One of the challenges in PMI is to deepen mutual understanding of differing values and corporate cultures in order to further enhance corporate value. Deciphera’s corporate philosophy “One Mission” and its behavioral guidelines “PATHS,” which include patient focus and accountability, are in line with our mission statement. Prior to integration, each department worked to promote communication for mutual understanding. After integration, we are now at a stage where we work together in the development and commercialization of each other’s compounds, making an even deeper mutual understanding necessary. To that end, we decided to share not only our corporate philosophy but also mid- to long-term goals, and to repeat a process in which each department shares its culture with others through practice. Specific initiatives include multiple visits by our management to Deciphera in FY2024 to directly communicate our corporate philosophy, exchange opinions, and set shared goals. Additionally, we have promoted more active cross-departmental communication through project management. As a result, although we are still midway, the mission statement is gradually taking root and mutual understanding of values and culture is deepening. We are making steady progress toward building a corporate structure that can further expand and accelerate our global business.