It all began in 1921, with a small factory established in Tokushima, Japan by Busaburo Otsuka. For more than 80 years Otsuka has been achieving milestones in its efforts to build health and hope around the world. Today, the Otsuka group of companies is comprised of 153 companies and 36,000 employees in 23 countries and regions around the world and in 2008 generated $9.7 B in net sales. 

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In 1964, the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (OPC) was established to enhance global pharmaceutical product development and commercialization. Otsuka built its first U.S. research institute in 1985, the Maryland Research Laboratories. This business was expanded and incorporated as Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI) in 1989, with offices in Rockville, Maryland, focusing on developing treatments to serve unmet medical needs in North America.

In 1999, OAPI launched PLETAL^® (cilostazol)³ in the United States, responsible for sales, manufacturing and marketing, and since then has developed and commercialized a wide portfolio of innovative pharmaceutical products. ABILIFY^® (aripipazole)¹, an Otsuka-discovered neuroscience compound, was approved in the US in 2002 and is co-promoted and co-marketed with Bristol-Myers Squibb. SAMSCA™ (tolvaptan)² , launched in May 2009, is the first Otsuka product that Otsuka has single-handedly taken from discovery to commercialization. 
 

The success of ABILIFY^® (aripiprazole)¹ was the driving force to take Otsuka global. In January 2007, OAPI’s sister organization was formed, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization (OPDC), to streamline the development and launch of Otsuka's pharmaceutical products on a global basis .
 

Otsuka is developing new treatments and indications focusing on neuroscience, oncology and hospital therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical need. By allocating significant resources in these treatment areas Otsuka maintains its commitment to develop and launch products for better patient outcomes.