Japanese drugmaker moves China HQ to SH FTZ

Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd on Oct 20 held a ceremony, to celebrate the move of its China regional headquarters and Asia development center to the Pudong Qiantan area, within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Takeda Pharmaceutical celebrates moving its China regional HQ and Asia development center to the Pudong Qiantan area in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_01c6f7b4cf3d]

More than 30 representatives from local government, universities, business associations and the pharmaceuticals industry attended the event, in Shanghai city in East China. 

Takeda Pharmaceutical held a roundtable discussion with the theme of "innovation integration to deepen the high-quality development of the Shanghai biomedical industry cluster". 

Representatives were invited from industry promotions centers, as well as those involved in intellectual property rights and research and development, among other interested areas, to discuss how to upgrade the entire industrial ecosystem.

"It is a great honor for Takeda to move its regional headquarters to the Pudong Qiantan area on the occasion of Takeda's 240th anniversary," said Shan Guohong, president of Takeda China.

The executive added that in the future, Takeda would take advantage of business opportunities presented by Pudong's continued high-quality opening up and its innovative strength – to speed up the introduction of innovative products and technologies and contribute to Shanghai's development as a world-class biomedical industrial cluster.

Takeda executives said the company would showcase its innovative products and breakthrough therapies in oncology, digestion, rare diseases, neuroscience and blood products at the upcoming 4th China International Import Expo, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from Nov 5-10 this year.

In 2012, Takeda set up its China regional headquarters and Asia development center in Shanghai. Since 2015, it has invested an estimated 1.5 billion yuan ($235 million) in the development of new drugs in China.