GlaxoSmithKline is looking to join up with small and medium-sized companies in Japan to help it develop and distribute new medicines, the Financial Times reported in its Monday edition. Glaxo's Asia-Pacific head Marc Dunoyer said the British drugs firm was looking to work with and invest in firms but would not take a controlling stake.

"The medium-sized segment of Japan is where we're going to focus our attention," Dunoyer was cited as saying in the FT. "It's about reassuring them that we're not going to take them out, but that we have some complementary areas," Dunoyer said.

Glaxo is eyeing new opportunities in Japan, where a raft of medicines that are already well established in home markets are winning approval and being launched. Emerging markets, with nine-month sales of £2.1 billion and year-on-year growth of 19%, currently make up 13% of Glaxo group sales. Japan accounts for some 4%.