Takeda plans cuts, eyes mergers
pharmafile | May 17, 2010 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Takeda, job cuts
Takeda is planning to cut its workforce by 10% through a series of cuts that will predominantly be made to its US operations.
The Japanese pharma company’s pipeline has been under pressure recently, with some candidates dropped and others experiencing regulatory delays, and the company expects its profits will be squeezed over the next 12 months.
“The business environment for the pharmaceutical industry is changing dramatically, with the pharmaceutical industry as a whole facing barriers to technological innovation that have halted progress in breakthrough novels drugs, stricter approval processes for new drugs in advanced nations, and radical upheaval in healthcare systems, the company said in a statement.
In response to the changes Takeda has issued a two-year Mid-Range Plan in which the company sets its sights on making a series of acquisitions, backed by a 500 billion Yen (around $5.4 billion) war chest.
Targets could be difficult to find due to the high level of recent merger and acquisition activity in the industry, but the company will be looking for deals that can help offset an expected 21.5% slump to 330bn Yen in operating profits in the year to March 2011.
The Mid-Range Plan will run until 2012 and has three main focuses of: innovation, growth and a developed culture that it hopes will combine to create a “new Takeda”.
Innovation
Takeda aims to build a pipeline that is balanced across therapeutic areas through in-house R&D and by actively pursuing mergers and acquisitions and licensing activities.
The company will also concentrate investment into new core therapeutic areas of metabolic and CV (obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis), oncology and central nervous system diseases (including depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease).
Growth
In the US and Europe, Takeda aims for rapid new product launches.
To promote these the company says it will establish a “flexible sales and personnel structure”, which will cover both the primary care and specialised care fields.
In a growing trend, the company will increase expansion into emerging markets and other countries and regions where high market growth is expected. Takeda believes this will help achieve a globally balanced regional portfolio in terms of sales and profits. Its ultimate goal is to cover approximately 90% of the global market by 2012.
Culture
As part of the transformation into a new Takeda, the company will create an “open and active corporate culture”.
At the same time, Takeda will step up its training programmes to develop staff with a global perspective in order to maximise emerging market penetration.
Ben Adams
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