Takeda poised to cut sales jobs in Japan as restructuring continues

pharmafile | July 29, 2020 | News story | Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing Japan, Takeda, job cuts 

Japan’s biggest drug firm Takeda is said to be mulling plans to cut back its sales operations with a new restructuring programme as part of its ongoing plan to jettison around $10 billion in non-core assets in the wake of its titanic $59 billion acquisition of rare disease firm Shire that completed last year.

The move is not out of place in the Japanese market, where many pharma firms operating in the country have downsized their operations due to a contracting market due to the strains of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The cutbacks are reportedly focused within the company’s sales operations, but the extent of the cuts are not known, with no confirmation on the estimated number of affected roles. However, Takeda confirmed it is currently in consultation with labour unions over the move.

A spokesman for the company was keen to clarify: “We are not considering job cuts, we are considering a voluntary early-retirement programme.”

An anonymous source told Reuters that, with the move, the company plans to rely less on medical representatives to healthcare professionals and more on contract sales organisations. However, this has been denied by the company.

Matt Fellows

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