The company has bagged a preclinical program from struggling Swiss biotech Spexis for $2.3m upfront, its fourth deal in as many months.

Despite a global tendency for lower than average success rates from Phase I to approval in the challenging oncology and CNS areas, a recent Citeline study finds top Japanese pharma firms have relatively high rates in these two categories in the US. So what are the factors driving those differences?

The UK firm has announced an extension of its series C financing which means it has raised just shy of $150m in the last 18 months to fund clinical development, manufacturing scale-up and preparations for the potential commercialization of opelconazole.

Looking back at recent company decisions to shift product strategy, restructure its US Upsher-Smith business and acquire manufacturing sites from a former domestic competitor, Sawai's president shares the breadth of the Japanese firm’s vision.