Japan's drugmakers race to embed AI—or risk falling behind

What happened

Japanese drugmakers including Takeda Pharmaceutical, Chugai Pharmaceutical, and others disclosed in their 2025–2026 financial filings that they are deploying AI across research, manufacturing, and supply chains. Takeda reported that 63% of employees actively use generative AI tools as of March 2025, up 16 percentage points in one year; Chugai said active users exceed 60%.

Why it matters

Pharmaceutical companies now view AI delays as a material business risk. Daiichi Sankyo explicitly warned that falling behind in AI innovation could erode research-and-development advantage and lower competitive strength. AI has shifted from an IT-department project to a core business strategy, affecting how companies develop drugs, predict inventory, and manage operations—meaning uneven adoption across firms may widen the performance gap by 2030.

What to watch

Mid-tier firms lag significantly—only a handful mentioned AI in their filings, and those that did offered little detail. Large companies like Takeda are embedding AI across the entire value chain (from target discovery to commercialization), while Chugai and others partner with external firms (Chugai with SoftBank on autonomous AI agents for clinical development) to secure competitive advantage in drug productivity.