Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma has undergone a rebrand. Following a ¥510 billion ($3.3 billion) takeover by Bain Capital, the 350-year-old company has dropped the Mitsubishi from its name and those of its affiliates.
Bain struck a deal to buy the Japanese drugmaker from its parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, in February. News of plans to rename the company first emerged (PDF) in July. The Bain-owned business said that it would change its name to Tanabe Pharma effective Dec. 1, and shareholders signed off (PDF) on the plan in late October.
Confirmation of the change came Dec. 1; going forward, the Japanese drugmaker will operate as Tanabe Pharma. The new name nods to the legacy of Tanabe Seiyaku, a business that was founded in 1678 and gave rise to the modern drugmaker when it merged with Mitsubishi Pharma in 2001.
The name change has affected Tanabe subsidiaries as well. Having removed Mitsubishi from its name, the U.S. affiliate will operate as Tanabe Pharma America, for example, while an equivalent change north of the U.S. border has created Tanabe Pharma Canada.
The North American businesses are two of the 12 affiliates that Tanabe said are changing their names in line with its rebranding. While most of the changes happened Dec. 1 in alignment with the renaming of the parent company, Tanabe’s affiliates in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are scheduled to continue operating under their outgoing names until December 2026.
Tanabe said the unified branding aims to enhance the company's global recognition.
While the company has changed its name, it is retaining the blue-on-white symbol that it used in the Mitsubishi era. Tanabe said the symbol represents “hands gently enfolding the health of people around the world.”
The design shows the company’s “boundless potential and aspirations for the future as well as the trust it has earned from society,” according to the drugmaker, which added that the blue color used in the logo “symbolizes the intelligence, technological excellence and ethical integrity expected of a pharmaceutical company.”