Otsuka Holdings raised its profit outlook for the year to December 2026 while leaving its revenue forecast at ¥2.725tn. The third-quarter earnings summary (tanshin) puts core profit at ¥500bn, up from ¥470bn in the July forecast. Core profit is the company's own measure: revenue less cost of sales, selling, general and administrative expenses and research spending, adjusted for equity-method results.
The forecast changes
Operating profit is now guided at ¥488bn (previously ¥469bn). Profit attributable to owners of the parent is guided at ¥370bn (previously ¥355bn). Otsuka said gross profit is running ahead of its earlier forecast and that research spending will come in below it, at ¥373bn instead of ¥385bn, partly because some projects were reviewed. The forecast assumes ¥158 to the dollar and ¥185 to the euro.
In the medical business, Otsuka said its antipsychotic and Voyxact are tracking above forecast. Functional beverages in the nutraceuticals business are expected to fall short. The two roughly cancel, so the revenue guide did not move.
Launch against loss
Voyxact, an anti-APRIL antibody, won US accelerated approval in November 2025 for adult IgA nephropathy and was launched as the first treatment of its kind in that class. It brought in ¥35.5bn in the first nine months of this year. The antipsychotic grew 21.4% to ¥296.5bn.
The offset is in the company's V2-receptor antagonist for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Its US exclusivity period has ended and generics have taken hold. Sales fell 31.1% to ¥125.1bn.
Nine-month results
Revenue rose 12.3% to ¥2.04tn and core profit rose 19.2% to ¥436.9bn. Operating profit rose only 4.0% to ¥423.7bn, and pre-tax profit rose 7.5% to ¥422.3bn. Other income was ¥10.1bn, against ¥59.4bn a year earlier.
Otsuka assumes uncertainty over the Middle East, US drug pricing and tariffs will have limited effect on this year's results. It warns that a change could materially affect reported assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses.