Messages from the Management

With the aim of becoming a corporate group with solutions to a range of social issues in a changing global healthcare environment, we are committed to becoming a global leader in our three focus areas of research; Psychiatry & Neurology, Oncology, and Regenerative medicine/Cell therapy.
We strive to pursue the sustained growth and enhancement of corporate value by further refining our strengths to appropriately respond to the healthcare needs of society and solve the health-related issues of people.
As the population ages further, addressing psychiatric and neurological disorders is expected to become an even bigger societal issue and we will continue working on these areas where we can demonstrate our largest strengths.

In addition, oncology is an area with high unmet medical needs where effective treatment methods have not been sufficiently established though many options seem to be provided.

We are also working hard in the Regenerative medicine/Cell therapy field to provide solutions for patients for whom there is no adequate treatment option, as well as treatments for radical cures.

In providing healthcare solutions for unmet medical needs, there is no doubt that pharmaceuticals will continue to play an important role; however, we understand that the health-related issues of people cannot be solved with pharmaceuticals alone.

To meet a wider range of needs, we are promoting new areas of research, development and commercialization of the Frontier Business that goes beyond drug treatments and transcends the existing boundaries of pharmaceutical companies.

We will continue to contribute to society as a corporate group which provides a range of healthcare solutions for every situation from illness prevention to physical therapy, social welfare, and caregiving, in addition to distinctive pharmaceuticals for each area.

Recognizing the growing importance that the international community attaches to human rights, Sumitomo Pharma, which engages in business around the world, supports the spirit of international fundamental principles of human rights and promotes initiatives for respecting human rights in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

We have established SMP Group Human Rights Policy in March 2022 in order to further promote our ongoing initiatives to improve a working environment and respect the human rights of our business partners including our suppliers and all of our stakeholders, while we comply with laws and regulations of labor and employment in countries and regions where we operate. Through these initiatives, we will fulfill our corporate social responsibilities.

Sumitomo Pharma commits itself to continuously pursuing the establishment of a corporate governance system which is highly effective, aiming for the fuller realization of our Corporate Mission and Management Mission. We have elected four Independent Outside Directors and three Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members, as we endeavor to ensure the transparency and integrity of management. These elections allow us to implement agile and proactive corporate management, as well as make steps to enhance and reinforce internal control.

The Company conducts an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors and, based on the results of the previous year's evaluation, identifies major agendas to be addressed during the current year. Major agendas to be addressed in fiscal 2022 are "Effective supervision of the management through more efficient and effective monitoring of material items," "Constructive discussions on material issues & medium- to long-term business strategies," and "Deepening of discussion regarding issues related to sustainability". The Board of Directors of the Company is determined to further enhance its functions, while addressing these agendas.

While Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. is our parent company, there are no restrictions by the parent company on our conduct of business activities (such as prior approval by the parent company), and a certain level of independence has been ensured. The Supervisory Committee for Conflict of Interests in Transactions between Group Companies established as an advisory body to the Board of Directors and composed of all the Independent Outside Directors, deliberates on material transactions with the parent Company's Group from the perspective of protecting the interests of minority shareholders.

Furthermore, with the aim of maximizing Group-wide corporate value, we have established corporate rules on operational management so that management of our subsidiaries is conducted appropriately. We have set up departments to manage each subsidiary, as well as departments, that oversee this management, and we strive to understand the status of management and business execution at subsidiaries while providing the appropriate support for business execution.

In order to continue to serve the world as a valued company that delivers innovative and effective pharmaceuticals to people, we focus all our efforts on researching and developing new pharmaceuticals. We believe that the purpose of CSR-based management is to fulfill the expectations of all stakeholders through its activities. In order to attain this goal, it is important that we continuously create new value by building a flexible and efficient organizational foundation instilled with a CHANTO mind set, while conducting corporate activities in accordance with the Declaration of Conduct.

While keeping "taking on challenges," "self-disciplined and independent," and "collaborative with peers" as our basic stances, we will continue striving for sustained growth and enhancement of corporate value going forward by contributing to solving social issues as a Group in Japan and overseas.

Finally, on behalf of Sumitomo Pharma, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all stakeholders for your interest in the Company and ask for your continued understanding and support.

Sumitomo Pharma has identified the material issues to be addressed in the Company's CSR-based management through business activities and has prioritized them in the form of Materiality Map, while setting targets for each material issue as guidelines for the promotion of CSR-based management.

The Company first identified the material issues (materiality) for CSR-based management in July 2018. Since then, we have regularly reviewed material issues and the Materiality Map (a priority list of the issues to be addressed) based on social changes, the progress of our initiatives, and feedback from our stakeholders. In June 2021 we established key performance indicators (KPIs) to manage the progress of each material issue. In developing KPIs, we sought advice from experts through dialogue at meetings including ESG meetings and discussions with board members and members of the Management Committee. We believe these discussions enabled us to establish KPIs that are unique to the Company, rather than those that can be applied to any company, ensuring our achievement of sustained growth and promote CSR-based management. One of our material issues linked to value creation is "Development of innovative products and healthcare solutions." As one of the KPIs to measure the progress of our unique material issues, we are considering establishing indicators for the development of a next-generation antipsychotic that would lead to a revolutionary treatment in the psychiatry area, and projects in the Regenerative medicine/Cell therapy field to assess the degree of progress on an ongoing basis.

Sumitomo Pharma considers Work Style Innovation, Diversity & Inclusion, and Training and Development of Employees as material issues linked to value creation. With our basic concept of work style innovation, which is to build a win-win relationship between employees and the Company to enable employees to work with a firm sense of fulfillment and produce results, it is our aim that each and every person will fulfill their own roles and produce results in the limited time. In the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued efforts to enhance improving productivity by achieving results while enjoying work through work-life balance, which can become blurred when teleworking. Going forward, we will aim to maximize results through pursuing more sophisticated work styles while promoting virtuous cycle in work-life balance.

We have worked to create an environment that enables every employee to demonstrate their full potential irrespective of gender, age, nationality, and disability. When it comes to empowering women which is one of the major themes of diversity & inclusion, the ratio of female managers is steadily increasing, and we will continue to promote development and training aimed at raising the ratio of female senior employees who are candidates for management positions. Apart from that, we have focused our efforts on promotion of LGBTQ understanding by Ally initiatives and promotion of active participation by people with disabilities through appropriate placement.

In addition to fostering the next generation of leaders through SMP Academy which is a career grade-specific selective education and training program, we are working to foster global human resources that can undertake business management overseas in future such as by dispatching personnel to overseas subsidiaries and overseas academic and research institutions. Besides these selective programs, we have adopted and are operating a talent management system to systematically understand and supervise the skills, assets, and capacities of our employees. Utilizing the talent management system, we encourage employees to take steps toward their own career planning as well as self-disciplined and independent self-improvement. We also have supervisors and direct reports work together to design customized development plans in order to realize human resources development and the proper placement of personnel, while striving to maximize results.