Fujifilm to enter the pharmaceutical market. Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Fujifilm plans to buy pharmaceutical company Toyoma Chemical for approximately $1.43 billion (¥154 billion) to expand its presence in life sciences.

Fujifilm, the parent company of Fujifilm Medical Systems, intends to become a majority stake holder of Toyoma. The acquisition of Toyoma, also based in Tokyo, would give Fujifilm about 10 experimental medicines, including the first new class of anti-flu drug in a decade, according to Bloomberg News.

The deal may provide Toyama researchers with funds to discover new drugs after the pharmaceutical company posted its biggest annual loss in at least 12 years, Bloomberg reported.

The projected cost of the acquisition would be Fujifilm's largest since it bought control of a copier and printer venture from partner Xerox for 160 billion yen in 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg data.