News

Kyorin licensee for gatifloxacin Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co. (New York; CEO: Peter R. Dolan) ("BMS") announced on April 27 that based on economic reasons it decided to discontinue commercialization of new quinolone Tequin® (gatifloxacin) tablets and injection in the United States and all of its territories where Tequin® is sold. Kyorin originated the compound gatifloxacin and licensed certain rights thereto to BMS in 1996.

Kyorin had forecasted sales (ex-Japan) from licensed products for fiscal year 2005 to be 7.8 billion yen. 4.0 billion yen of this amount was forecasted to derive from sales of Tequin® by BMS. Kyorin will announce its sales forecasts for fiscal year 2006 on May 15.