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Lion Corporation
Bristol-Myers K.K.
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Lion Corporation (“Lion,” head office: Tokyo; president: Sadayoshi Fujishige), Bristol-Myers K. K. (“BMKK,” head office: Tokyo; president: Mark W. Wright) and °®¶¹´«Ã½. (“Eisai,” head office: Tokyo; president: Haruo Naito) agreed to change the distributor of an ethical drug, Bufferin, whose manufacturing and marketing rights in Japan Lion owns, from BMKK to Eisai on July 1, 2008 and Lion and Eisai today signed an agreement regarding exclusive authorization for sales in the Japanese market.
The applicable products are an antiplatelet drug, Bufferin 81mg Tablets, and an antipyretic/analgesic/antiphlogistic drug, Bufferin 330mg Tablets.

As it has in the past, Lion will continue to manufacture and sell the Bufferin series of over-the-counter (OTC) drug, which encompass antipyretic analgesics and related products.

Lion is strengthening the field of OTC drugs and aggressively expanding its business in Asia to become the number one company in the “new comfortable lifestyles industry” area that consists of toiletries, OTC drugs and functional foods. Lion has also made every effort to develop its own Bufferin brand, enhance its value and build the distribution system in the field of ethical drugs since it acquired the brand trademark rights in Japan, Asia and Oceanian countries, which had developed by the joint venture business, from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (head office: New York, USA ) in 2007.

Eisai, as a human health care (hhc) company, carries out R & D, production and sales activities on a global basis. On this occasion, Eisai will handle Bufferin 81mg Tablets, the first-line drug to prevent ischemic heart disease (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction) and ischemic cerebrovascular disorder. This product release will allow Eisai to consolidate its total management system for the prevention, treatment and disease management of ischemic diseases by complementing its existing ethical drugs, Nitorol® and Cleactor®, for disease management in the ischemic heart disease area, and Warfarin and Bufferin 81mg Tablets, for prevention of cardiogenic cerebral embolism and atheromatous thrombosis in ischemic cerebrovascular disorder. By promoting Bufferin 330mg Tablets to a wide range of medical institutions as an antipyretic/analgesic/antiphlogistic drug, Eisai will further contribute to the health of patients.

BMKK believes that this agreement will enable it to strengthen its innovative portfolio and further contribute to health care, particularly focusing on cancer, HIV, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis and other disease areas in the ethical drug field.

The three firms reached this agreement thinking it would be best to change the distributor of an ethical drug, Bufferin, in order to strengthen their target business areas.

Bufferin is an antacid-coated aspirin used globally as an antipyretic, analgesic and antiphlogistic medication. Trials globally demonstrated that aspirin also has an antiplatelet effect and in Japan low-dose pharmaceutical products were approved in February 1999 as an ethical drug to prevent the formulation of thrombus and embolus in ischemic heart disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disorder in addition to traditional antipyretic and analgesic effects. It is used as the first-line drug in prevention of these diseases.