Established in 1971 by Roche Japan Co., Ltd. as the world’s largest manufacturing base for vitamin B2 raw material. In 2016, KIYAN PHARMA Co., Ltd. acquired the plant from API Corporation.

Currently, the Fukuroi Plant advances the production of raw materials for various uses of the natural amino acid 5-ALA and expands contract manufacturing of other pharmaceutical APIs and intermediates.

The site area is approximately 118,892 square meters (about 36,000 tsubo), with numerous buildings and equipment within the vast factory grounds. The building area is about 12,000 square meters, with various production facilities neatly installed.

Warehouse facilities for storing raw materials and products cover a total area of about 4,600 square meters. The raw materials warehouse is 723 square meters, the products warehouse is 805 square meters, and there are also outdoor facilities for safely storing hazardous materials.

Environmental facilities include comprehensive wastewater treatment equipment, using primary treatment, activated sludge method, and activated carbon filtration to thoroughly purify the water discharged from the factory. This minimizes the impact on the surrounding natural environment, supporting sustainable manufacturing activities.

Many amino acids are simply chain-bound as protein raw materials and can be produced by breaking down proteins. However, the bond when 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) converts to porphyrin is unique, and 5-ALA cannot be obtained by breaking down chlorophyll or heme.

As an industrial production method that can be supplied inexpensively, research was advanced to improve microorganisms called photosynthetic bacteria, which can synthesize large amounts of chlorophyll, and succeeded in developing a fermentation method for synthesizing 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA).