BEIJING: Bullish on China’s innovation-driven biopharmaceutical environment, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co vows to further enlarge its investment in China, a top official of the Japanese drugmaker said.

       Takeda plans to raise its revenue growth in emerging markets to account for one-fifth of its projected total by fiscal year 2031, up from the current roughly 13%, said Ricardo Marek, president of Takeda’s growth and emerging markets business unit.

       China is the largest contributor in terms of both size and pace of growth, and is on track to become Takeda’s second-largest market by the 2031 fiscal year, Marek said.

       “From the standpoint of our headquarters, we are maximising capital allocation to China such as increasing operational expenses, number of people, expanding to third and fourth-tier cities and public hospitals,” he said.

       As part of Takeda’s headquarters in China, Takeda Development Centre Asia was moved to the Qiantan Centre Building in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone on Oct 20, a move to take advantage of the development of the country’s biopharmaceutical industry to fulfill its commitment to Chinese patients.

       The free trade zone is building a biopharmaceutical industrial zone to promote the development of China’s biopharmaceutical industry.

       “In the company’s global strategies, China has always been an important market. We have been increasing our investments in China ever since 2015.

       “Between 2015 and 2020, we invested in China over 1.5 billion yuan (US$234.9mil or RM972.72mil) to accelerate the research and development of innovative products in the country,” said Sean Shan, president of Takeda China.

       Last year, Takeda expanded its production base in Tianjin, and in the same year, it launched its five-year development plan in China, Shan said.

       According to the plan, the company will launch at least 15 innovative drugs and seek to become one of the Top 10 multinational pharmaceutical companies in China.

       It will increase market distribution channels, and improve drug accessibility and patient service capabilities to benefit more than 10 million local patients.

       “In the future, we hope to ride Shanghai free trade zone’s high-quality opening-up to accelerate the process of introducing innovative products and technologies to China, and help Shanghai build a world-class biopharmaceutical industry cluster,” Shan said. — China Daily/ANN