February 25, 2015
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Japan-based biopharmaceutical company Takeda Pharmaceuticals has announced today that it will consolidate and streamline its operations in Singapore. The staff size in its Biopolis office will increase by 50 percent, bringing the headcount to 200.
The new office will house the Emerging Markets Business Unit headquarters, Takeda Development Center Asia, and the Vaccine Business Unit. Takeda has maintained a presence in Asia for more than 50 years, and it entered Singapore in 2008.
“Our patients are the core of what we do at Takeda,” said Giles Platford, president of the Emerging Markets Business Unit. “Our new space in Singapore will allow us to more quickly address evolving market needs throughout the rapidly growing Emerging Markets, including Asia-Pacific. It gives us close-to-door access to important market information that will help accelerate the development of medicines needed for battling regional and global health issues.”
The Vaccine Business Unit in Biopolis will have a laboratory for analytics and the development of vaccines against infectious diseases in the region. One vaccine that is expected to enter Phase III trials soon targets dengue fever.
“Asia is a dynamic continent with four billion people across dozens of countries,” Platford continued. “Many Asian countries are facing the reality of rapidly aging populations and related health issues. This move in Singapore places us to further strengthen Takeda’s commercial position and clinical development capabilities globally.”
Industry Development at Biopolis
Takeda is not the only company to bring innovative medicine to Biopolis, the international research and development center in Singapore. In September 2014, the Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine Holdings announced that ProNova had been selected to establish the first proton therapy facility at the location.
The new $100 million cancer and proton center was slated to include two superconducting gantry proton treatment rooms. Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that uses a single beam of high-energy protons for cancer treatment.
“We believe proton therapy is a significant step forward in our treatment of cancer and ProNova has proven to be the best partner with next generation technology,” said Djeng Shih Kien, the founder of SAM.
Biopolis is located next to the Kent Ridge Campus, an area where a public hospital and medical school are located to facilitate clinical research. Companies including GlaxoSmithKline , Eli Lilly and Company , Novartis AG and Abbott Laboratories have established their research and development base in Biopolis. Currently, there are more than 2,000 scientists from around the world carrying out research in this area.
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Analyst Mark Schoenebaum, a biotech and pharmaceuticals analyst and medical doctor for ISI Group Evercore, has been running a Best Hair in Biopharma contest for several months now. So far, the candidates are Bristol-Myers Squibb Company‘s John Elicker, Receptos’ Chief Executive Officer Faheem Hasnain, Celgene‘s Vice President of Investor Relations Patrick Flanigan and Acorda Therapeutics’ Ron Cohen.
We want to know what our BioSpace community thinks: Who do you believe actually has the Best Hair in BioPharma?
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