Patient-centred innovation One of the oldest pharmaceutical companies with nearly 240 years of existence, Takeda has grown internationally while maintaining its values of integrity, respect and patient focus. With a presence in 80 countries and over 50,000 employees worldwide, it is in the top 10 of pharmaceutical companies. In Belgium, the company is a top10 employer in the sector, with a factory in Lessines and commercial and administrative headquarters based in Zaventem. which affects approximately 300 people in Belgium, and we hope to introduce this year another treatment to change the course of the disease and thus strongly contribute to a higher quality of life for these patients.”
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Takeda Belgium
Laurent Henaux, General Manager at Takeda Belgium
© Takeda Belgium
© Takeda Belgium
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A major innovative employer
Geoffrey Pot, Head of Lessines production site
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Takeda is always looking for new and innovative solutions for patients. Currently, the company is running 40 new product projects, which are in various stages of development. Here, Belgium plays a leading role with 20 clinical studies in various hospitals. In the field of research, Takeda has entered into more than 100 partnerships worldwide with scientific teams, start-ups, university laboratories and biotechnology companies that adopt innovative approaches, particularly in cell and gene therapy. In 2020, Takeda co-founded the CoVig-19 Plasma Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of the world’s leading plasma companies, spanning plasma collection, development, production, and distribution in the fight against COVID-19.
“Over 1,100 employees work 24/7 in this centre of excellence, which is active in immunoglobulin G purification, aseptic filling and packaging for immunoglobulin products and even biological (haematological) products. The immunological products manufactured in Lessines are indicated for the treatment of primary immune deficiency and distributed in over 80 countries including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France etc.,” explains Geoffrey Pot, Head of the Lessines production facility. In 2020, Takeda Lessines was selected as one of the manufacturing sites for the purification and filling of the potential hyperimmune therapy of the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, which is currently being tested in a Phase 3 Clinical Trial. Takeda's plant in Lessines is ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified, which clearly illustrates its quality of service, strategic choice of safety and desire to work more with renewable energies and to increase the recyclability of its production process. Protecting the planet is indeed one of the main priorities for the company. It aims to become carbon neutral by 2040, a.o. by reducing its energy consumption and by reducing significantly the indirect emissions. The site in Lessines is already ahead of schedule, with CO2 emissions in 2020 that were 33,7 per cent lower than in 2005.
Laurent Henaux, General Manager at Takeda Belgium explains: “It is about meeting unmet medical needs, for example in lung cancer and immunology, or for disabling orphan diseases such as hereditary angioedema. For this indication, we already have three products in our product portfolio to treat this disease,
© Takeda Belgium
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Unmet medical needs
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y acquiring the pharmaceutical company Shire in January 2019, Takeda grew its global sales to $30 billion per year. This visionary capacity is also reflected in the three major therapeutic fields in which Takeda is active in Belgium: oncology (with a current focus on specific blood cancers such as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin lymphoma), gastroenterology (with highperformance products to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease) and rare diseases (with a leading position in haemophilia and metabolic diseases such as Fabry disease and Gaucher's disease, which are highly debilitating hereditary illnesses). The common thread: these diseases require innovative solutions in order to improve patient quality of life. In addition to these specialist care products, Takeda offers a wide range of primary care products (prescription and over-the-counter), including medications for the treatment of reflux and osteoporosis.
In support of this policy, Takeda‘s Lessines plant is dedicated to rare disease patients and is part of a global network, GMS (Global Manufacturing Supply).
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