Japan's biggest drug maker, Takeda Pharmaceutical, is moving its R&D headquarters from Japan to Illinois in the next few months. And in a bid to further shake up its development efforts, the pharma company has outlined a host of executive appointments for its realigned global development operations.
"Takeda is making meaningful changes in structure and governance through this reorganization ... which we believe will further strengthen our global operations structure," said President Yasuchika Hasegawa in a statement.
The R&D headquarters that had been based in Osaka, Japan is being shifted to Deerfield, IL by July 1. And among the new appointments announced, Shigenori Ohkawa, Ph.D., was named chief scientific officer. The restructuring was spurred by the prospect of losing its patent protection for Actos in 2011. Takeda desperately needs to develop new therapies ahead of the patent expiration.
But innovation has been problematic at Takeda. Earlier in March the FDA said that it would apply new safety standards for diabetes drugs to Takeda's experimental SYR-322, or alogliptin, raising the prospect of a delay in approval for the new diabetes drug. That news sent Takeda's stock down 13 percent. A ruling by the FDA is expected just days before Takeda completes its R&D move.
- read the AP report
- check out the Takeda release