Cosmed Pharmaceutical Releases a Manga Depicting its Quarter-Century Story Since Founding

Cosmed Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kyoto, President and CEO: Youngsook Kwon), a venture company originating from Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, specializing in research and development of Transdermal Therapeutic Systems (TTS), will celebrate its 25th anniversary in May 2026.

We are pleased to announce that the story of our company from its founding to the present, spanning a quarter of a century, will be published as a five-part manga series titled "The Story of Cosmed Pharmaceutical" on our corporate website.

About "The Story of Cosmed Pharmaceutical"

Fumio Kamiyama (Current: Director and Advisor) and Youngsook Kwon (Current: President and CEO), two researchers who met in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, left their laboratory in 2001 to embark on a journey as entrepreneurs of a venture company, focusing on the research and development of "technology for absorbing drugs through the skin.".

However, as both had spent their lives as researchers until then, they had little knowledge of corporate management or funding. All they had was the desire to "provide healthcare that is gentle to people by developing technology to absorb drugs through the skin," a unique idea that fused engineering and pharmaceutical science, and confidence in their technological development.

This precariously small company later advanced research into "microneedles" as a next-generation drug delivery method to replace injections, developing a "world-first" technology in 2008. They would go on to implement the product into society and pioneer a new market.

Why was the venture company founded by these two researchers able to produce a "world-first" product?

"The Story of Cosmed Pharmaceutical" features Kamiyama and Kwon as the main characters, delivering the quarter-century story of a Kyoto-based venture company's founding through a manga, with gratitude to all stakeholders who have supported our growth.

Publication Information for "The Story of Cosmed Pharmaceutical"