Snowden: extracting nature’s best for health, longevity and beauty

According to the latest G20, that was held in Ibaraki-Tsukuba, the future of society will be interconnected to make our life easier, healthier, and longer. Can you tell us how your company Snowden is making our lives healthier, longer, and more beautiful?

It’s very accurate what you're mentioning. It is very close to our essence, our motto, the power of nature, and our key compound is that we contribute to society by developing innovative health, longevity, and beauty products. The keyword here is longevity; our company is putting all efforts to deliver it to our customers in every Snowden product. We contribute to society by using organic materials, we don't use any pesticides, so that's the best feature of our products. We use the extracts of natural compounds to create better products to benefit our customers by expanding life and beauty together. So, we are committed to contributing to health, longevity, and beauty through our best practices.

The pharmaceutical industry is expected to reach a value of 1.5 trillion US Dollars by 2023, with Southeast Asia and North America among the regions driving growth. As the president of a leading pharmaceutical company, can you tell us how you are planning to take advantage of this growth and penetrate international markets?

Because of COVID-19, some activities had to stop. Returning to your question, on how we are going to penetrate other markets around the world, that is something that is on hold right now. By definition, all our products are preventive medicines and organic natural extract products, to build a better immune system. In other words, it helps you to not get affected by any other disease that may occur to you in the future.

The situation here in Japan is very drastic, we have a population of 125 million Japanese people, and the population around 75 years old is around 8 million. You can imagine how the burden is on the Japanese economy regarding pension, national health insurance, and all the payments to be made. All of this is connected, the country has to support its people, the pharmaceutical industry has to make products to help people, and all of these aging-related problems have a bad impact on the economy, making the Japanese economy not so competitive in this global arena. With all this, the future doesn’t look so optimistic.

As the president of Snowden, a company that makes pharmaceutical-related products, it is something that we see as the inevitable outcome. But what can be done in that matter is to stabilize the population of Japan by maybe attracting some people from abroad to come to Japan. Also, by introducing more products that help people to adopt the preventive measures and promote more longevity.

Can you please highlight the milestones of your company and your products?

The major highlights, since our establishment, was the use of the raw original product, the placenta. The original chairman of the company, Yoshizo Asukabe, started with the research of the placenta in 1971, which led him to discover "Panacea". It can be used in several pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and health products. In 1977 he started Snowden. Mr. Asukabe and several doctors came up with the best feature of the placenta and built the business on top of that.

The next product to highlight is Korean red ginseng. Last but not least, the most recent was the LJ88 lactic acid bacterium (LAB), which was discovered thanks to co-research with Tokai University. These three components (placenta, Korean red ginseng, and LAB) are what we call the base of the Snowden.

Today, with the COVID-19, being healthy and beautiful has become more relevant than ever. How are you taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation, because there is the impression that the pharmaceutical industry is the one booming with this situation? What solution are you offering to your customers to be and stay healthier?

Thanks to the 50 thousand people using the placenta products, it gave the results that allowed us to see the areas of improvement in the skin and body. Especially in terms of hormone stabilization, better functioning of the liver, heart, and immune systems. The placenta is a raw material used in cosmetics, and as a component of beauty essence for women.

The next product is a lactic acid bacterium, LJ88. LJ88 is a unique LAB found in the gastric juice which is beneficial to both the stomach and intestines. We think that LJ88 is an unprecedented revolutionary discovery. For now, we are selling LJ88 mainly in Japan and Asian markets, and we are planning to release it to other countries. 

Which countries are you planning to sell the LJ88?

We are currently selling LJ88 in Taiwan, and the result is very good, as by the second year our sales have doubled. It would be obvious to see East Asia, could be Korea and China as a trial. It doesn't have to be our finished product, but products that contained our LAB are distributed in Singapore and the US. So, the countries that have more issues controlling this gastric acid are the first ones to be considered.

You mentioned that you wanted to introduce your products to these countries. How do you plan to do so? What is your strategy?

We are dealing with a well-established market, managed by a trading company with headquarters in Switzerland. They have distribution channels in these countries. Due to COVID-19, it is physically impossible to do sale activities in these countries, but on August 25, we are hosting an online conference with Chinese participants that are interested in our products. From our side is a Ph.D. member of personnel will explain to the audience, all the characteristics of our products through the power of the internet.

You mentioned that you're able to diversify into a different field and introduce new products. Today many Japanese companies are investing massively to deploy new products into the global market. Could you tell us where you are planning? If you have new products for the near future that you can share with us?

We have to mention that we already have a LAB LJ88, which lowers gastrin in the blood, and decreases the secretion of gastric acids. Also, the placenta that contains great functional aspects. So, everything that our company is doing right now is looking at how to blend these products, like the placenta with something else to enhance the features. Sometimes we don't have enough brain work by ourselves and that's why we do collaboration with the academic institutions.

During this interview, you've mentioned how you have been able to be successful when it comes to beauty, health, and pharmaceutical. Looking to the future of your company what will be your mid-term strategy?

Currently, we don't see that is going to be a great turnover. But gradually the sales will increase little by little. To introduce new products that we are working on right now will be related to how to bring opportunities and good timing. We're still waiting to see where this COVID-19 is going to take us. But once things are clearer and everything settles down, we will again start to introduce something new and get back to the normal situation.

You mentioned that you're looking to find new distributors in other countries. Can you go further on your international strategy?

We will maintain the same principles that we've adopted so far. We already have very solid and strong distribution and sales channels in some regions. We are thinking to adopt the same principles for our global expansion in other countries such as EU, Russia and the Middle East. It will have to be a well-established distributor or sales company that will do the job for us. Once we have those established, it will become our fingerprint, for the expansion in that region. If the sales channels grow strong enough in other regions, of course, we will think about expanding. The Internet is doing a great job for us. A company from England approached us for a trial and now we are considering expanding to that region.

We’ve been talking about the different business, and of course it is relevant to mention the OEM business. What solutions do you offer to your customers?

We are doing that through our online conferences, so participants from different areas, such as online shops, raw material manufacturing companies, and cosmetics companies, can participate. What we are doing on the OEM business is proposing the OEM segment. Is not only about introducing products but also what Snowden as a company can offer in response to the needs of those companies.

Who takes the placenta? Does it target any specific segment?

Our products are aimed at making a healthier society, so they are for everyone.