Interview with Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare Co., Ltd.

Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare Co., Ltd.

Business division: Corporate Planning Department, Planning Group
Persons in charge: Mr. Yoshihiro Kuroda, Ms. Mai Horiuchi
Business category: Pharmaceutical company
Issues: Are there any measures that a manufacturer can take from the manufacturing stage?

Background of introducing the service	Anti-counterfeiting measures became important due to the expansion of our business area outside pharmaceutical products
Deciding factor of introducing the service	One-stop solution from monitoring to enforcement
Effects after introducing the service	Visualization of the distribution status of counterfeit goods from the perspective of a third party has improved the awareness of our employees

Anti-counterfeiting measures became more important together with the expansion of our business area

As a company with a broad product lineup, most of the counterfeit goods are of our skincare products of brands such as “MINON” and “TRANSINO”. Due to issues of manufacturing equipment and necessity of government approvals and licenses, the hurdle is high in entering the market with pharmaceutical products, and it was unlikely that counterfeit goods would appear in that field. The reason why we decided to introduce the online monitoring service of IP FORWARD is because our business area expanded outside pharmaceutical products and the importance of anti-counterfeiting measures increased.

Until we introduced IPF’s service in 2019, only the legal department answered questions from on-site employees. The company took ad-hoc measures only when it happened to discover counterfeit goods. Since it was impossible to monitor all counterfeit goods with limited man-power, when we started our full-scale anti-counterfeiting measures, we wanted to know how the other companies were dealing with the situation. Which is why we participated in the sub-committee of the Japan Trademark Association, and it was there that we were introduced to IP FORWARD.

We were told that many of the companies were using IPF’s services, but our deciding factor of introducing the service was that IPF is able to offer a one-stop solution from monitoring to enforcement. We thought that this was extremely unique, and decided to use IPF’s services as well.

Periodic reports now serve as our important guideline

Several years ago, facial masks that are identical to our products and products that used the name and logo of “TRANSINO”, but which were completely different from our products, were being distributed in China. While we were informed that counterfeit goods were on the market, when we actually confirmed IPF’s report, counterfeit goods were being broadly distributed more than we imagined, and I remember being shocked at the news.

The security of receiving a monthly report of the results from researching the various sites is an extremely important factor. Since IPF understands the characteristics of each platform, IPF is able to propose solutions in addition to notifying us of the research results, and thus it is easy for us to make plans for the measures that need to be taken, and I feel that IPF is truly dependable.

IPF is monitoring counterfeit goods extensively, and we use the statistics of overseas sites as the basic data for deciding what action should be taken next and what sales strategy we should adopt next. Since this data can also be used for determining the potential of our brands, and determining the level of distribution of our products in the market of each country irrespective of whether there are counterfeit goods, distribution of our products = demands for our products at that location. While this deviates slightly from counterfeit goods, I feel that IPF’s services are also of help in this respect.

“Visualization” of distribution status of counterfeit goods

Our employees are able to internally share the activity status of anti-counterfeiting measures, and I often hear that the awareness of our employees is increasing. Previously, we dealt with the situation only after being notified of counterfeit goods from an on-site employee, but as a result of showing our attitude of actively taking action together with IPF, it appears that the on-site employees also feel a sense of security. It is also extremely helpful that IPF has enabled the “visualization” of the distribution status of counterfeit goods based on the diagnostics results from the perspective of a third party.

When IPF implemented enforcement against counterfeit goods in Vietnam in 2020, it coincided with the time of the legal reform in Vietnam. This became the first case of enforcement after the effectuation of the amended law, and was introduced on the website of the Vietnamese government. As a company, I believe that we were able to make a public appeal that we are a company that is actively engaging in the enforcement against counterfeit goods.

It would be ideal to also identify the manufacturers

Distributors of counterfeit goods are also becoming extremely sophisticated such as by separating the manufacturing sites. While we are only able to implement enforcement against distributors at the moment, our goal is to also identify the manufacturers going forward. I hope that IPF will be able to improve our know-how, knowledge, and expertise to achieve this goal as well.

Our “Clean Dental” toothpaste for preventing periodontal diseases is currently attracting attention not only in Japan, but also in foreign countries. Going forward, I hope that IPF can also offer cooperation in this kind of oral care area. As a manufacturer, we hope to come up with processes that we can take from the manufacturing stage to distinguish counterfeit goods with the support of IPF, and actively take measures in a proactive manner.