Takeda commits to Chinese pharma market

Japan-headquartered biopharmaceutical company Takeda has vowed to boost spending in China to tap the booming pharmaceutical market.

Takeda Chief Financial Officer Costa Saroukos said during an interview in Shanghai that it aspires to become a top-ten multinational pharma company in China and to cover an additional 10 million Chinese patients with innovative products and treatments in the next five years.

"China is one of our number-one priority markets, in terms of the number of product launches, potential growth and also significant amounts of investment," he said.

China has long been a star in Takeda's Growth and Emerging Markets Business Unit, showing a strong revenue momentum of 40 percent growth in the six months ended September 30, following the company’s fiscal year.

"We have very strong confidence in China, and also in the long-term potential of the China pharma market as we believe the underlying fundamentals of the industry are strong," he explained.

Takeda aims to launch more than ten new products in the next few years in China and it's also boosting resources overall in the country.

Potential new drug launches in China include Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) treatment Entyvio, a top selling product for Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis; and its Takhzyro for hereditary angioedema (HAE), as well as oncology treatment Adcetris.

Globally, Takeda has identified four core therapeutic areas where patient needs are great: Oncology, Rare Disease, Neuroscience and Gastroenterology, with targeted R&D investment on Plasma-derived Therapies and Vaccines. In China, its research and development efforts will be in line with these areas.

China is included in every new product launch and every new research program that Takeda is investing in globally. As soon as it's available in the US and Europe, the company aims to launch it simultaneously in China.

"We've seen big opportunities and strong potential for all these disease areas in China. The new products pipeline that we are launching here in the next few years is really focused on best-in-class or first-in-class innovation," Saroukos added.

Takeda added more than US$100 million to its investment in China in the fiscal year ended March 2018, which has taken its registered capital in China to almost US$200 million.

Since 2015, Takeda has been investing more than 1,500 million yuan (US$215 million) in research and development to support new developments in China.

Seven of Takeda's products are already in the approval process in China, and three of them are included on an accelerated medical approval list.

"I am very excited about the investment placed in China and this will help drive growth and meet unmet medical needs," he added.

Saroukos also spoke highly of the Chinese government’s recent health care reforms, which are intended to help sustain economic growth by accelerating and rewarding innovation.

"We now have a window of opportunity with the new government health care reforms that actually supports our strategies. We are very encouraged by China’s health care reforms with a focus on innovation, speed to market and access. We believe that we have a great pipeline of assets that will help support Chinese patients," he added.

This year, it also invested a further 110 million yuan in the expansion of Tianjin facility, which is the 25th anniversary of the plant since 1994.

The company is eyeing investment in China all along the industry value chain, from research and development, to manufacturing and commercialization.

The Takeda Development Center Asia was upgraded in 2017 to support the development of new assets at the global level. It has since initiated more than 50 clinical trials for new product development in Asia, including 30 in China.

"This has enabled us to maximize opportunities for products to be developed for China and also benefits many Asian Pacific countries," Saroukos noted.

In China, the company is also preparing for an aspirational plan so as to better prepare for the next 10 to 15 years ahead.

“We don’t see why China shouldn’t become the second or third largest country market in the world for Takeda, or even the biggest market one day. Our commitment to China and its patients remains unchanged and our investment in China will continue to reflect its significance as one of our most important growth markets," Saroukos said.