Society ＞ Together with Local Communities and Society Contributions to Medical Care and Welfare
- Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Medical Educational Subsidy
- Support for Patients with Intractable Diseases and Their Families
- Activities in Support of Children Fighting Illnesses
- Blood Donation
- Sale of Fresh-Baked Bread and Confectionaries from Welfare Facilities Catering to People with Disabilities
- Contributing to Developing Countries
As a life sciences company, in addition to our business activities, the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Group is engaged in a wide range of medical and welfare-related initiatives that seek to achieve a vigorous life for patients, their families, and others.
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Medical Educational Subsidy
The Company subsidizes medical training that is independently planned and operated by medical societies and associations, to help improve the quality of medical care offered in Japan through better literacy in patients and healthcare professionals, and in 2021, the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Medical Educational Subsidy was established. We added new domains to the original ones, and in fiscal 2023, provided a total of 28.1 million yen for 11 projects to support education initiatives in the fields of diabetes, renal disease, and ailments of the central nervous system.
For further information about the supported projects and eligible organizations please refer to the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Medical Educational Subsidy website. (https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/sustainability/educational_subsidy.html) (Japanese language only).
Support for Patients with Intractable Diseases and Their Families
The Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Tenohira Partner Program
The Company believes in the importance of developing new drugs for intractable diseases and providing support for patients with diseases and their families. Accordingly, in 2012, we established the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Tenohira Partner Program. This program provides aid for the activities of organizations and support groups for patients with intractable diseases. These organizations work to improve patients’ medical treatment, education, and career prospects and to enhance their quality of life. In fiscal 2023, 17 organizations were selected for assistance.
Additionally, in October every year we receive a report from each organization we provided assistance to in the previous fiscal year, detailing their activities, and take the opportunity for the exchange of opinions and other information. For the past several years this was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in fiscal 2023, we divided this into two days, October 24 (Tokyo) and October 31 (Osaka), at which 15 groups of organizations attended to offer reports and exchange opinions face-to-face for the first time in four years.
For details about grant recipients and other information, please see the page "Support activities for patient groups with intractable diseases." (Japanese language only)
Employment Support Seminars for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)* — Tips for Working with IBD
Patients with IBD must live for the rest of the lives with an illness that will cause them to routinely experience digestive system difficulties such as abdominal pain and diarrhea that fluctuate in severity, and which may require long-term hospitalization for surgery, and it is said that many experience difficulty in balancing work with their illness. Since fiscal 2021, we worked with GoodTe Inc., to hold online employment support seminars for IBD patients. At these seminars, patients are offered lectures by career consultants, and gain hints on how to work with IBD through panel discussions with others with experience doing so, and through interaction with other IBD patients.
In fiscal 2023, these seminars were held two times, with a different theme on each occasion. At the panel discussions, the real-life stories from participating patients who spoke about finding and changing jobs, and their positive attitude regarding the future were particularly impressive. We hope that these seminars help to address the worries and concerns that IBD patients have with regard to work.
Achievements in fiscal 2023
September 2023 “Tips for working with IBD — Turning chance occurrences into opportunities! Career development through the Planned Happenstance theory”
March 2023 “Tips for working with IBD — Revealing the turning point and looking for the first step in finding or changing jobs”
We also offer information on a website for IBD patients, which can be viewed below.
Health support websites:
Sponsorship and participation in charity and walking events (United States)
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America (MTPA) co-sponsors and participates in various charity and walking events to raise awareness and recognition of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease.
In fiscal 2023, we co-sponsored and participated in 78 fundraising events, attended by around 150 employees and their families and friends. These events raise awareness and recognition of ALS and Parkinson’s disease and serve to bring ALS patients together to fight against the disease. They also offer opportunities for patients, families, and caregivers to learn about ALS. Through these sponsorships, we support regional and national programs and services such as fundraising events for ALS research, patient education, transportation to and from hospital, respite care (for ALS patients)*, and support activities at the state and national level.
*Respite care refers to care that allows caregivers to temporarily take time out from their duties for rest and recuperation.
Support for educational activities (United States)
MTPA supports 62 educational activities and ongoing efforts that provide educational tools to patients with ALS and Parkinson’s disease, and those with the rare diseases erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) and X-linked protoporphyria (XLP), as well as to their families, in order to raise awareness of these illnesses. While working with the patient support community, with the same sense of mission, through this support, we are raising awareness of the diseases and providing education on them to patients and caregivers, creating an environment that alleviates the burden on the lives of patients and their families. In fiscal 2023, we held education symposiums, mental health support, caregiver programs, and meetings of patient organizations, as well as disease education support for young professional groups.
Sponsoring and Participating in a Walking Event in Honor of Lou Gehrig Day
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Korea (MTPK) sponsored and took part in the “Route Challenge” walking event (June 21-July 20, 2023), in which ALS patients, their families, and volunteers walked together to support patients and raise awareness of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Route Challenge is a charity event in which cooperating businesses offer donations reflecting the number of steps participants walk. Approximately 60,000 people participated over the course of a month, with around 50 MTPK employees taking part. We hope that our participation will give us the opportunity to gain an understanding of the difficulties that patients fighting Lou Gehrig’s disease face, while at the same time deepening awareness and understanding of the disease in patients and their families.
- *Called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” after the American professional baseball player Lou Gehrig, who suffered from it. The medical name for this disease is “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.”
Activities in Support of Children Fighting Illnesses
Through support for NPOs, etc., we engage in activities to assist children battling illnesses, along with their families.
Supporting Children’s Hospices
Children’s Hospices are facilities that provide children faced with life-threatening illnesses, along with their families, opportunities to learn and play, offering them the close relationship of a friend. However, there are only two such facilities in all of Japan that are not attached to hospitals, one each in the cities of Osaka and Yokohama. By participating in charity events and offering assistance through volunteering, we support the TSURUMI Children’s Hospice and Yokohama Children’s Hospice.
Supporting events to raise awareness of children’s hospices and pediatric palliative care
We supported the 5th National Children’s Hospice Summit, which was held on February 23, 2024, with 12 of our employees assisting as volunteer staff to help in setting up the venue, handling reception, and acting as timekeepers. On the day, the summit featured reports on the activities of hospice-affiliated groups in Japan and there were even messages from the United Kingdom, a leader in hospice care. We have supported these activities since 2018, and the presence of multiple media organizations at the venue has led us to feel that there is a growing interest in children’s hospices.
Supporting TSURUMI Children’s Hospice through the Osaka Marathon
Located in Osaka City’s Tsurumi Ward, TSURUMI Children’s Hospice (TCH) is the first community-based children’s hospice in Japan to be created in accordance with the philosophy of the United Kingdom’s Helen House, the first children’s hospice in the world. Five employees of the Company chosen by seeking volunteers in-house participated as TCH charity runners in the Osaka Marathon, which was held on February 25, 2024. Spurred on by the encouragement of a volunteer cheering squad, all of our charity runners were able to complete the marathon.
- [Comments from employees who ran]
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- It felt like I was running together with the cheering squad and the staff from TSURUMI Children’s Hospice, which made it fun.
- The encouraging cheers from the roadside and my desire to protect the smiles of the children of whom I am so fond kept me running, even though it was raining and cold.
Supporting the Yokohama Children’s Hospice through Tokyo Yamathon*
The Tokyo Yamathon was held on October 21, 2023, by International Volunteer Group Japan. All fees for participating in this event were donated to the Yokohama Children’s Hospice Project. As a supporting company, in addition to the 12 employees who volunteered, on the day we provided 1,400 bottles of Aspara Drink to participants.
*The Tokyo Yamathon is a fundraising event in which teams of two to four people walk to all or half of the stations on the JR Yamanote train line within a 12-hour period.
- Holding a summer festival at Yokohama Children’s Hospice
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On July 30, 2023, we held the “Umi-Sora Tanamin Summer Festival” at “Umi to Sora no Ouch (Home of Sea and Sky),” a facility run by the certified NPO Yokohama Children’s Hospice Project. In response to the needs of the Yokohama Children’s Hospice, we planned a summer festival to which we invited children using the hospice, along with their families, for a total of 46 people in 13 families. On the day of the festival the venue resounded to the music of drums and flutes, and the families attending enjoyed the vast array of booths on offer, including ring-tosses, lucky string pulls, number matching lotteries, yoyos, goldfish scoops, bath-bomb making, a photo spot, cold Ramune drinks, and a booth with animal-shaped bread to choose from. There were many smiles to be seen.
[Comments from families]
- I usually can’t spend much time with my siblings, so I was looking forward to this festival, which I thought would be an opportunity to spend a long summer together with them free from worry.
- This festival was a lot of fun because I have been unable to take my family to summer festivals out of fear of infection.
- This festival offered so many brand-new experiences!
The Umi-Sora Tanamin Summer Festival
The children were overjoyed!
Blood Donation
According to the Japanese Red Cross, because blood cannot be artificially produced or stored for long periods of time, in order to secure blood that is needed for transfusions, there is said to be a need for approximately 14,000 people to donate blood each day.
Blood is important to save the precious lives of patients who need blood transfusions due to a disease or accident.
The Group cooperates actively with the Japanese Red Cross in blood donation activities at each site, including our head offices. Moreover, the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Indonesia’s Bandung Plant collaborates with the Indonesian Red Cross Society to participate in blood drives.
In fiscal 2023, 606 employees donated blood in Japan and overseas.
Sale of Fresh-Baked Bread and Confectionaries from Welfare Facilities Catering to People with Disabilities
On the third Thursday of every month, we hold direct sales of freshly baked bread and confectionaries made at welfare facilities catering to people with disabilities at our headquarters. Each carefully made, these baked goods are a favorite of our employees and sell out every time. The welfare facilities appreciate these sales as an opportunity to receive feedback from their customers directly. We will continue to support their efforts by purchasing from them.
Contributing to Developing Countries
TABLE FOR TWO (TFT)
TFT is a social contribution activity that originated in Japan. It is aimed at simultaneously resolving the problems of hunger in developing countries and the problems of obesity and lifestyle-related diseases in industrially developed countries. At the employee cafeterias, when employees eat low-calorie meals that help prevent obesity, through TABLE FOR TWO International, 20 yen of the price is allocated to the cost of school meals in developing countries, such as countries in Africa and Asia. Twenty yen is the amount of money needed to provide one meal in a developing country.
In 2014, we introduced the TFT Program at the employee cafeteria at the headquarters office. Also, at offices, we have installed TFT vending machines, and a portion of the sales of drinks purchased from these machines is used to provide meals for children in developing countries. Employees have given high evaluations to this initiative, in which they can readily participate, and which enables children in developing countries and employees to improve their health at the same time. In fiscal 2023, 105,330 yen was donated, and the cumulative total donated since the start of the activity reached 1,500,000 yen.
The school meals that are provided through donations are expected not only to help solve hunger among children but also to increase school attendance rates and grades, lead to gains in the children’s fundamental strength, and help prevent disease. In this way, these meals are playing an important role in helping to eliminate poverty. Moving forward, we will continue this initiative to help solve hunger and poverty among children in developing countries.
*TFT (https://jp.tablefor2.org/)
Fiscal 2023 meals contributed through participation in the TABLE FOR TWO program (Converted at 20 yen per meal)
| Contributions from the TFT menu | Contributions from TFT vending machines | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 52,180 yen (2,609 meals) |
53,150 yen (2,658 meals) |
105,330 yen (5,267 meals) |
- Participating in Onigiri Action 2023
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Onigiri Action is a campaign delivering hot school meals to children in Africa and Asia, themed around the concept of changing the world with Japanese food on World Food Day, October 16 each year. Under this initiative, five school lunches are distributed to children in Africa and Asia for every post of an onigiri (rice ball) photo on social media and other dedicated websites.
While appealing widely to employees of the Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG Group), the Company held an "Onigiri Action Event" on October 11, 2023, as a collaborative initiative between the headquarters, Yokohama office, Yoshitomi office, and Onoda office. On the day of the event, with the collaboration of our cafeterias, we offered onigiri containing slightly different ingredients to those normally used, and "Onigiri Action Special Lunches." Each office offered its own innovations, such as preparing fun point-of-purchase materials to take photos together with, and many employees participated by taking pictures of onigiri and posting them to social media and the dedicated Onigiri Action website.This event provided an opportunity for people to bring global food and health problems closer to hand.
Onigiri Action (https://onigiri-action.com/en/)
Many employees took part in Onigiri Action 
The impressive sight of the rows of onigiri
Participating in Vaccine Support Activities
The Group has been participating in vaccine support activities for children in developing countries since 2014. Through this program, unneeded books, CDs, and DVDs are donated and the proceeds from their sale are donated to Authorized NPO Japan Committee Vaccines for the World’s Children. Through this international contribution activity, those donations are used to deliver vaccines to children in developing countries, such as vaccines for six major infectious diseases. The price of a polio vaccine is only 20 yen per person. One book that is sitting on a shelf can protect two children from polio.
In fiscal 2023, a total of 224,492 yen, equivalent to polio vaccines for 11,225 children, was raised from employee donations and matching gifts from the Company. Since the start of these activities, total donations were about 2.75 million yen, equivalent to about 137,500 polio vaccines.
As part of our support for access to healthcare, we will continue these activities as we aim for a future in which children in developing countries live healthy and happy lives.
Fiscal 2023 contributions resulting from participation in vaccine support activities for children in developing countries
| Amount of contributions | Polio vaccine (estimate) | |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | 112,246 yen | 5,612 doses |
| Company matching | 112,246 yen | 5,612 doses |
| Total | 224,492 yen | 11,225 doses |
Together with Patients and Healthcare Professionals
- Research & Development
- Stable Supply
- Manufacturing Pharmaceuticals that are Secure, Safe, and Convenient to Use
- Information Provision
- Drug Safety / Quality Assurance
- Solving Issues Related to Improving Access to Healthcare
Together with Employees
- Human Resources Development
- Promoting Diversity & Inclusion
- Work-Style Innovation
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Health and Productivity Management