Takeda Opens New Global Research Center in San Diego

April 30, 2019 Off By BusinessWire

New facility focuses on specialized drug discovery technologies and
discovery research across gastrointestinal and neuroscience therapeutic
areas

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK)
(“Takeda”) today announced the opening of a new research facility in San
Diego, California. Extending Takeda’s 14-year presence in San Diego, the
165,000-square-foot facility is home to more than 250 employees focused
on leveraging specialized drug discovery technologies and advancing
discovery research in gastroenterology and neuroscience. The facility is
home to four research platform groups – structural biology, early target
discovery, computational biology and biologics – that provide key
capabilities to discover and advance promising molecules. The new
research center in San Diego complements Takeda’s global Research &
Development center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and its other global
research site in Shonan, Japan.

“Our San Diego research center demonstrates an ideal balance between
highly specialized internal research competencies and dedication to
external partnerships both within the local community and on a global
scale,” said Steve Hitchcock, Ph.D., Head of Research at Takeda. “By
consulting with and leveraging our relationships with academic and
industry partners and patient groups, we are able to operate nimbly and
efficiently to advance early discovery research that could potentially
translate into transformative, life-changing therapies for patients in
need, complementing our efforts in our other global research centers in
Cambridge and Shonan.”

Takeda’s R&D efforts are in four therapeutic areas – Oncology,
Gastroenterology (GI), Neuroscience and Rare Diseases – with targeted
investments also committed to Plasma-Derived Therapies (PDT) and
Vaccines. With a modality-diverse pipeline aligned to its therapeutic
area strategies and an externally oriented mindset toward drug discovery
and development, Takeda collaborates with partners around the world to
unlock innovation and deliver potentially transformative therapies to
patients. Today, more than 50 percent of Takeda’s research pipeline
focuses on non-small molecules, including biologics, peptides,
oligonucleotides, cell and gene therapy, the microbiome and other
modalities. The work being done in San Diego today represents the future
of Takeda’s pipeline.

In addition to the internal research conducted on site, the San Diego
research center plays an important role in connecting local
collaborators with Takeda’s global network of more than 200 research
partners. Additionally, in the last three years, Takeda, through its
venture group, has committed $35 million to Southern California startup
companies, underscoring its commitment to the active life sciences
cluster in the San Diego and broader California area. The company
supports the local community through continued engagement in patient
advocacy and disease awareness, children & STEM education and the
environment. For example, since 2005, Takeda has partnered with the San
Diego Center for Children – the region’s oldest children’s non-profit,
to support children with mental, emotional and behavioral health
challenges. In addition, Takeda provides over 25 paid college-level
student internships in the sciences each year.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Takeda
Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK)
is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader
headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a
Brighter Future to patients by translating science into
highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four
therapeutic areas: Oncology, Gastroenterology (GI), Neuroscience and
Rare Diseases. We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived
Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative
medicines that contribute to making a difference in people’s lives by
advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our
enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust,
modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving
quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health
care in approximately 80 countries and regions.