Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. · Year ended March 2026

Santen gains Chinese distribution rights for five eye drops

Santen focuses on prescription medicines for eye conditions including glaucoma, dry eye and allergies. It also sells over-the-counter eye drops and ophthalmic surgical products, serving Japan, China, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, among other markets.

1 primary sourcesPublished 2026-10-26Updated 2026-10-26

Two adults pass an unmarked folder across a desk beside plain eye-drop bottles and cartons, while a colleague handles stock on a shelf behind them.

Bring marketed eye drops to mainland China

The AbbVie agreement gives Santen exclusive distribution rights for five products in this territory.

Five AbbVie products

Exclusive mainland Chinese distribution rights

Santen China

Distribute products

Promote the products

An editorial diagram of contractual roles. It does not show a transfer of manufacturing rights, detailed shipping routes, revenue-recognition timing or medicine efficacy.

Source: results presentation, physical PDF page 29

Regional revenues move differently within the same eye-care business

Japan ¥146.8bn / EMEA ¥80.1bn

Revenue by customer location, year ended March 2026

The year ended March 2026 covers April 2025 to March 2026 and is called FY2025 in the presentation. Consolidated revenue was ¥291.6bn, down 2.8%.

Japan generated ¥146.8bn, down 11.2%; China ¥30.0bn, up 0.5%; Asia ¥33.3bn, up 14.0%; and EMEA ¥80.1bn, up 7.8%. EMEA means Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The geography follows customer location, and China includes Hong Kong. Amounts are converted from the presentation’s rounded units of ¥100 million.

In Asia, the company attributes revenue growth to glaucoma and dry-eye products, alongside partnered anti-VEGF products sold in South Korea from November 2025. That partnership is separate from the five Chinese products.

DATA VIEW

Two views of EMEA revenue growth

Year ended March 2026 versus the prior year, in %. The same region’s revenue is compared under two currency conditions; the figures are not additive. Both bars use a common zero-based scale.

Including currency effects+7.8%

Excluding currency effects+0.4%

Source: results presentation, physical PDF page 9. Both are growth rates for actual revenue, rather than volumes or profit.

Japanese pricing conditions weighed on major products

Eylea products: ¥78.1bn → ¥65.6bn

Japan revenue, years ended March 2025 → March 2026

Total Japanese revenue fell from ¥165.3bn to ¥146.8bn. The company attributes lower major-product revenue to generic launches and drug-price cuts, including market-expansion repricing for Eylea.

Revenue from the Eylea product grouping fell from ¥78.1bn to ¥65.6bn. This grouping includes Eylea 8mg and aflibercept “Bayer.” These are co-promoted products with Bayer Yakuhin, the marketing authorization holder; the total does not represent only medicines invented by Santen.

Lower revenue alone does not establish a reduction in the volume of medicine used or the number of patients. Drug prices and product mix also change the revenue amount.

CONCEPT MAP

Different conditions for selling eye medicines

An editorial reading of the year ended March 2026 and the company’s next-year outlook.

Eye-medicine portfolioMatch own and partnered products to each region

Chinese distribution rightsDistribute and promote five marketed AbbVie products
Japanese drug pricesGeneric competition and repricing affect major-product revenue
EMEA yen conversionRead growth both including and excluding currency effects

Follow partnerships through to profit and expenses

Core ¥55.1bn / IFRS operating profit ¥47.8bn

Two different profit measures, year ended March 2026

Core operating profit was ¥55.1bn, down 7.1%, while IFRS operating profit was ¥47.8bn, up 2.0%. The direction of change differs depending on the measure.

Core operating profit is a company-defined adjusted measure. Below it, the presentation lists noncore expenses of ¥1.2bn, amortization of product-related intangible assets of ¥8.8bn, other income of ¥7.0bn and other expenses of ¥4.4bn before arriving at operating profit. Published amounts are rounded, so the displayed arithmetic does not reconcile exactly. The ¥55.1bn should not be treated as IFRS operating profit.

Research and development expense reached ¥25.6bn, up 6.1%, which Santen attributes to pipeline progress. Products generating sales and the cost of developing future products meet in the same year’s income statement.

Next-year revenue forecast: ¥311.0bn

Year ending March 2027 forecast announced May 12, 2026

The presentation’s FY2026 means the year ending March 2027. Santen forecast revenue of ¥311.0bn and core operating profit of ¥59.0bn. It expected growth from Chinese glaucoma products including Alphagan, and identified partnered Korean products among Asia’s growth drivers.

The profit retained from partnered sales also matters. Santen expected partnered products to lower gross margin in Asia and China, while revenue growth would still increase profit. The plan also included higher expenses such as product promotion.

These are forecasts made in May 2026. The presentation does not isolate the revenue or profit contribution of the five products alone.

THE VIEW AFTER THE NUMBERS

What the numbers suggest

Santen researches and develops eye medicines and adds products through partnerships. The mainland Chinese distribution rights for five products are one example.

The rights to sell in a market, local drug prices and conversion into yen shape revenue alongside the product range. Connecting the year ended March 2026 with the next-year growth plan requires looking at how revenue grows and at the margins and selling and development expenses that accompany it.

Primary sources used

FY2025 Results Presentation (Japanese)

Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. · 2026-05-12

Pages used: p.8 / p.9,18 / p.9,22 / p.11-13 / p.29

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