While Takeda is eliminating 4,500 roles across its global operations, the company has some 2,200 jobs currently open for hiring, for which internal candidates will be prioritized.
In an effort to cut back on costs, Takeda is rolling out a sweeping “transformation program” that will streamline corporate operations and see some 4,500 employees let go.
This number, however, is a high-level count of the effort’s impact, a company spokesperson emphasized to BioSpace on Wednesday. “This number does not reflect the hiring we are doing to support upcoming priority launches, our pipeline and new capabilities,” the spokesperson said, adding that the 4,500 reduction “represents less than 10% of total roles globally.”
“Right now, we have 2,200 open roles globally and we expect to create new jobs throughout the year, which we are prioritizing filling with internal candidates,” the spokesperson added.
The layoffs will affect Takeda’s global enterprise, though the spokesperson disclosed that some 250 of these affected roles will be in Massachusetts, while nearly 390 more will be impacted elsewhere in the U.S. These U.S. layoffs were first confirmed in March.
As part of the strategic push, announced Wednesday during the Japanese pharma’s full-year earnings report for the 2025 fiscal year, Takeda will also reduce management layers and shutter certain R&D and manufacturing sites. Details regarding these office closures remain scant.
Takeda expects to absorb around JPY 170 billion ($1.1 billion) in one-time restructuring costs in the fiscal year 2026. In exchange, the company forecasts gross annualized savings of more than JPY 200 billion ($1.27 billion) by the 2028 fiscal year, with around JPY 100 billion ($630 million) of those realized in the current fiscal year, according to the earnings presentation.
The layoffs, the spokesperson said, are “part of our ongoing transformation to strengthen competitiveness, enhance our long-term growth profile and accelerate launch execution in the years ahead.”
Wednesday’s newly announced transformation program continues Takeda’s ongoing campaign to realign its business. The company in May 2024 announced a “significant multi-year program” to improve operational efficiency and bring to the fore its data and technological capabilities.
In practice, this strategic revamp has involved heavy-handed staffing cuts. In 2024, Takeda eliminated more than 1,300 jobs across its operations worldwide followed by a further workforce reduction of 137 employees in October 2025. That same month, the Japanese pharma said that it would no longer invest in cell therapies, selling off its technologies and other assets to an unnamed external partner.
Takeda continued to prune its pipeline on Wednesday, pulling the plug on TAK-004, an investigational peptide therapy being tested for vomiting and nausea. The decision to can the asset was “due to strategic reasons,” according to the company.
