Takeda's evolution continues

Hee-Seok Moon, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

Completion of follow-up measures after the sale of the division, strengthening the capacity of anticancer drugs and rare diseases

Focusing on improving patient access, such as EAP, the conservative attitude of the Cancer Disease Review Committee is disappointing

Moon Hee-seok, CEO

It is difficult to stop what is going well.

 

Even more so if it is a company's business.

 

Takeda sold its diabetes and over-the-counter (OTC) business to Celltrion, a domestic company, last year.

 

Takeda's Actos is a TZD-family drug that persisted in the Avandia outbreak, while Whituben and Albothyl are famous OTCs that everyone knows, meaning they sold the products that symbolized the company.

 

Takeda has carried out a total of four mergers and acquisitions: Millenium Pharmaceutical in 2008, Nycomed in 2012, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals in 2017, and Shire in 2018.

 

Pipelines have been reinforced in the areas of anticancer drugs, rare diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases.

 

The situation is rapidly keeping pace with the rapidly changing market environment.

 

There were also difficulties.

 

As a follow-up to the sale of the division, Takeda reduced the number of employees.

 

Along with the labor-management conflict, items that used to be cash cows disappeared, resulting in a change in the sales structure.

 

Dailypharm met Hee-Seok Moon (56 yrs old), CEO of Takeda Korea, who had been through an eventful year, and heard the story of the past and the future direction of the company.

 

-There were many issues such as merger and sale.

 

It feels like a completely different company over the years.

 

Takeda was founded in 1781 and celebrated its 240th anniversary this year.

 

It has been a traditional pharmaceutical company.

 

However, since the early 2000s, we have tried to become a global company, and there have been many concerns.

 

As a result of these concerns and efforts, the anticancer drug pipeline has been strengthened since the mid-2000s, and through the merger of Millenium Pharmaceutical and Shire, the company focused on specialty care.

 

Takeda is trying to obtain approval for new products in the fields of anti-cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, rare diseases, nervous system diseases, and vaccines, which are key treatment fields.

 

In the future, Takeda aims to achieve a sales volume of over ₩50 trillion by 2030, and has a pipeline that divides into products that are ready to be released within the next five years (Wave 1) and products scheduled to be released after that (Wave 2).

 

-Although drastic change in business model is desirable and necessary to some extent, employment issues are a problem with this sale.

 

Didn't the company actually suffer a lot from this?

 

Currently, the sale and all circumstances resulting from it have ended.

 

We considered what the best efforts would be for the employees who were inevitably forced to leave Takeda, and made efforts to provide maximum opportunities and support through continuous discussions with the headquarters.

 

It looks like it's almost finished systematically, and as we have spent a difficult time together, we will continue to think about the future together.

 

-Wave 1 and Wave 2 products were prepared.

 

Do you have a keynote or strategy when introducing new drugs such as anticancer drugs or treatments for rare diseases?

 

Product strategy is important from the early stages of development.

 

Takeda Korea is also making efforts to include Korea in clinical research when developing new products.

 

Takeda Development Center Asia, which oversees drug development in Asia, and TDC Asia are located in China, and recently hired a Korea Development Leader from TDC Asia.

 

When a product included in Wave 1 is introduced in Korea, a staff member who is a doctor is working in Korea to know how to conduct clinical trials and to speed up the clinical process.

 

It will be able to influence even more by belonging to TDC Asia.

 

We are considering ways to help patients as quickly as possible before listed, such as the EAP (Early Access Program).

 

-There seems to be a lot of worries about domestic insurance benefits.

 

Is the government's conservative attitude toward Zejula's indication?

 

In the case of anticancer drugs or rare diseases, the drug price is very expensive and accessibility is low, making it difficult.

 

However, I think the accessibility of patients with anticancer drugs has improved a lot over the past two to three years through the registration.

 

Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that the Cancer Disease Review Committee still seems to consider a lot of conservative and economic aspects.

 

It would be better if looking at it in terms of more scientific evidence and patient accessibility.

 

In the case of rare diseases, there is still a need for improvement in terms of patient accessibility compared to anticancer drugs.

 

In many cases, it is difficult to compare with alternative drugs, and because the ICER value is also low, it is very difficult to prove by economic evaluation.

 

The government is currently conservative on the drug exempt from economic evaluation track.

 

-Do you have any experience in receiving orders for Korea Passing from the head office due to domestic drug prices?

 

Takeda is fully aware that the domestic situation is not easy because it has a good understanding of the Korean market.

 

We are operating so that we can set drug prices appropriate for the Korean situation.

 

Due to the Chinese drug price reference system, it may be launched in China first, but the release has never been canceled.