Santen Pharmaceutical has no clear prospect of when its main factory will come back online after the site was damaged by the New Year’s earthquake in central Japan.
The Japanese eye drug giant issued an update on the impact of the disaster on January 15, saying that it confirmed some damage to the buildings and facilities of its Noto Plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, including plumbing cracks, water leakage, and instrumental malfunction.
Operations at the site have been temporarily suspended to conduct inspections and make repairs. Given the circumstances after the temblor, the company expects it to take some time to resume production due to the time required to arrange and secure external partners, it said. The company will announce a resumption date “as soon as it is determined,” it added.
To minimize the impact on drug supplies, Santen has begun limiting shipments of the glaucoma and ocular hypertension treatment Cosopt Mini (dorzolamide + timolol). It does not plan to adjust the shipments of other products at this time. The company said it has adequate inventory in third-party warehouses and that it expects to be able to continue normal shipments of other products.
Santen says the situation will have a “minor” impact on its earnings forecast for the current fiscal year.