This week Takeda has announced it is reshaping its Vaccine Business Unit (VBU) operations, establishing both global and regional hubs in order to support its norovirus, dengue and seasonal influenza pipeline.
The Japan-headquartered biopharma firm initiated steps to consolidate its global R&D and manufacturing networks back in 2013, in order to increase efficiency and save ¥120bn ($1bn) in operational costs by 2017, and as part of this latest shake-up it is shuttering several US vaccine sites.
Over the next two years, a site in Bozeman, Montana - acquired when Takeda bought LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals in 2012 - will close, along with the former- Inviragen sites in Madison, Wisconsin and Fort Collins, Colorado, while the current VBU headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, will be relocated to a new hub in the Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts area.
“Our sites in Bozeman, Fort Collins, Madison and Deerfield have been instrumental in bringing our dengue and norovirus programs to late stages of clinical development,” said President of Takeda’s VBU Rajeev Venkayya.
“This consolidation will help us to achieve the efficiency and operational excellence needed to execute the Phase 3 clinical programs and set the stage for global commercialization of these vaccines.”
Zurich, Switzerland will serve as a second global hub for the vaccine unit, with regional sites in Singapore and Brazil. Takeda’s vaccine manufacturing - which takes place at facilities in Hikari, Japan; Durham, North Carolina and Singen, Germany – will not be affected by the realignment.