We of Terumo (President: Takashi Wachi) and Tanabe Seiyaku (President: Natsuki Hayama), on January 8, 2003, will begin co-marketing our jointly developed total parenteral nutrition solutions FULCALIQ® 1, FULCALIQ® 2 and FULCALIQ® 3 (included on National Health Insurance Drug Price List on December 13, 2002). Each product is a hyperalimentation solution containing multivitamins, dextrose, amino acids and electrolytes supplied in a triple-chamber bag. They are the first parenteral nutrition solutions with added vitamins available on the Japanese market.

Total parenteral nutrition provides the daily requirement of nutrients and water by intravenous drip, directly via a central vein, in patients unable to take adequate nourishment via the oral route.
As essential nutrients, vitamins must be included in the hyperalimentation therapy regimen. Nutrition admixtures containing multivitamins are therefore highly desirable. However, such formulations had been considered difficult to realize because many vitamins are chemically unstable and must be stored in a cool, dark place.

In addition to UNICALIQ®, an intravenous nutrition solution containing dextrose, amino acids and electrolytes that has been on the market, we have successfully developed FULCALIQ®, a new type of parenteral nutrition product that contains multivitamins (13 vitamins) and can be stored at room temperature.
Use of this product does not require the separate operation of adding vitamins to an admixture of dextrose, amino acids and electrolytes. It therefore eases the workload of medical staff, eliminates the error of administering the solution without vitamins added, and reduces the possibility of solution contamination by foreign substances, including microbes, that might occur at the time of vitamin addition. FULCALIQ® thus further satisfies the medical need for hyperalimentation products.
Terumo obtained official approval for this co-developed product in October 2002, under Tanabe's registered trade name of FULCALIQ®. The two companies have jointly proceeded with the product launch. Terumo manufactures the product