First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest condolences and sympathies to those who have been affected and facing challenges by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and the tragic plane crash at Haneda Airport. We pray for the swift recovery of the affected region.
The pharmaceutical business and industry environment surrounding us continue to undergo rapid changes, and we are being challenged to adapt quickly and effectively to sustain growth by identifying their strengths and weaknesses. As we reflect on the year 2023, I think we achieved our year plan, such as the expansion of our products and the execution of our business plan, through the diligent efforts of all regions and functions to achieve their targets. The discontinuation of several development projects were difficult decisions, and we reaffirmed the need to clearly indicate life-changing values to advance creating new medicines of the future. We have seriously considered what is necessary for greater long-term potential for patients and the business.
One such action was the acquisition of Orchard Therapeutics, which we announced in October 2023. We believe that its platform technology, hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy, has the potential to treat diseases fundamentally for which there has been no effective treatment, which aligns with our Vision of life-changing value and is expected to be realized by society. We explore more opportunities to enrich our pipelines and with the modalities that are necessary for growth and continue to strategic investment. Additionally, in Japan we reorganized the Research and Development functions, which we announced in December 2023. By reorganizing Research and Development into solid global organizational frameworks, we aim to create an environment necessary for generating innovations in Research and provide Development units with systems aligned with the potential of their products, enabling us to prioritize value maximization and accelerate the delivery of solutions to as many patients in need as possible.
To bridge these actions and the realization of our Vision, each and every one of us must possess a strong determination to “create medicines with life-changing value and make people smile” and to challenge ourselves without being satisfied with the status quo, and to continue to learn and grow beyond our past successes. I am convinced that we can make even more people smile by executing all our actions not just additions but multiplications of each other's strengths.
Kyowa Kirin has paved the way for growth by researching, developing, and delivering drugs that address unmet medical needs. Behind this success lies a history of undertaking daring challenges, including various failures, re-starting from those failures, adapting to changes in the business environment, and restructuring strategies. I begin the new year with a strong belief that we will cultivate drug discovery capabilities that will enable the continuous creation of life-changing value in the future. We aim to achieve a strong growth as a Japan-based Global Specialty Pharmaceutical company. I look forward to your continued support and cooperation throughout this year!
Masashi Miyamoto, Ph.D.
Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer