Takeda Announces Bold, New Access to Medicines Strategy

~ Focus on Countries with High Unmet Medical Needs & the Inclusion of
Innovative Medicines ~

~ Announcement coincides with TICAD
VI and the opening of new Takeda offices in Nairobi, Kenya. ~

OSAKA, Japan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TOKYO:4502)
today announced the launch of a bold, new Access to Medicines (AtM)
strategy, aimed at increasing access to its innovative and potentially
life-saving medicines for patients with some of the highest unmet
medical needs. For decades, the company has provided product, funding
and access in many parts of the world, based on regional needs. The new
AtM strategy builds on that by focusing on geographies and therapy areas
with the highest unmet need.

This comprehensive approach is focused on countries with less developed
and evolving healthcare systems in areas such as Latin America, South
East Asia and Africa, where sustainable approaches to tackle barriers
that limit access to medicines are needed to make a meaningful impact on
patient lives. Of the 38 million people who die from non-communicable
diseases each year, three quarters – or 28 million – of these deaths
occur in low- and middle-income countries.

“Access to innovative medicines and quality healthcare is vital to the
health of people across the world,” said Christophe Weber, president and
CEO, Takeda. “In line with Takeda’s values, our Access to Medicines
strategy will expand on our existing commitments to enhance global
health, so that our innovative and potentially life-saving medicines can
be more accessible and affordable to patients in regions such as
Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The announcement coincides with the Sixth Tokyo International Conference
of Africa’s Development (TICAD-VI), and the Company’s formal opening of
offices in Nairobi, Kenya, from where Takeda aims to forge sustainable
AtM partnerships across Sub-Saharan Africa adopting a ‘not-for-profit’
approach.

Takeda’s new AtM strategy will focus on increasing access to some of its
most innovative medicines in the areas of oncology and specialty
gastroenterology, as well as its vaccine candidates for communicable
diseases such as dengue and chikungunya. As part of the Company’s
not-for-profit approach in Sub-Saharan Africa, Takeda is also working to
improve patient access to some of its diabetes and hypertension
medicines.

The initiative aims to address multiple access barriers common across
regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa – including development of
AtM-targeted life-cycle management for its existing medicines,
accelerated registration of its innovative medicines, increased
participation of local centres in clinical trials, establishment of
early access programs where applicable, and introduction of innovative
approaches to address affordability for those patients whose ability to
pay the full cost of treatment is limited.

“Takeda is committed to help advance patient health via collaborative,
affordability-based approaches that bring together key stakeholders to
ensure our latest, innovative medicines reach the patients that need
them. We have rolled-out comprehensive patient assistance programs in a
number of Emerging Markets. Our aspiration is that eligible patients who
are prescribed Takeda’s potentially life-saving medicines will be able
to get access to them,” commented Takeda’s Giles Platford, president,
Emerging Markets Business Unit.

In countries such as Kenya, Takeda’s approach goes beyond medicines. The
company is working with several partners to enhance local cancer
management capacity, increase access to treatment, and address access
barriers for other chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
“We aim to establish Nairobi, Kenya as a regional center of excellence
for Sub-Saharan Africa in the area of oncology/haematology,” commented
Isabel Torres, Takeda’s Global Head, Access to Medicines. “To further
that goal, and make a sustainable contribution, Takeda will work
alongside governments, NGOs, healthcare professionals, patient
associations and local community in multiple Public-Private
Partnerships. The opening of our Nairobi office is a significant step
forward in helping forge those collaborations and in enabling patients
in the region gain better access to medicines.”

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are an important
cornerstone of Takeda’s AtM strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two key
programs include the Takeda Initiative, a 10-year program started in
2010 to partner with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria by strengthening the capacity of healthcare workers in Africa;
and HERhealth, which works to address the pressing social need for
women’s health awareness and services. Takeda has supported the
initiative since 2015 in partnership with Business for Social
Responsibility (BSR) and aims to expand the program reach to women in
Ethiopia and Kenya.

About Takeda
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a
global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed
to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by
translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D
efforts on oncology, gastroenterology and central nervous system
therapeutic areas plus vaccines. Takeda conducts R&D both internally and
with partners to stay at the leading edge of innovation. New innovative
products, especially in oncology and gastroenterology, as well as our
presence in Emerging Markets, fuel the growth of Takeda. More than
30,000 Takeda employees are committed to improving quality of life for
patients, working with our partners in health care in more than 70
countries. For more information, visit http://www.takeda.com/news.

Media Background: Initiatives under Takeda’s Access to Medicines
Strategy

1. Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs)
A
cornerstone of Takeda’s Access to Medicines strategy are their PAPs,
specifically designed to ensure that eligible patients living in
countries with evolving healthcare systems and prescribed some of
Takeda’s life-saving medicines are able to access the full course of
treatment, in a sustainable way, through innovative, affordability-based
approaches. Designed and intended to make the full course of treatment
more affordable, PAPs will be tailored to address local needs via
different collaborative cost-sharing models between patients, Takeda,
and at times, charities, medical societies and other parties. Takeda
aims to put a number of these programs in place across South East Asia,
Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

2. Going “Beyond Medicines”
Affordability,
and the provision of medicines, are not the only barriers faced by
patients to access medicines. To overcome these barriers, Takeda is
developing programs that “go beyond medicines” in the Philippines,
Brazil and Ukraine – countries that represent the complex healthcare
landscapes of their respective regions, where significant barriers to
access exist and where Takeda’s is sufficiently equipped to have the
biggest impact.

  • In Brazil, Takeda is providing personalised patient support and
    increasing patients’ convenience by mapping out a network of infusion
    clinics within the country for patients prescribed with Entyvio for
    Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
  • In the Philippines, Takeda will work with local transportation
    partners to overcome considerable geographical challenges and deliver
    portable diagnostic kits for the treatment of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to
    and from the country’s remote islands

3. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Takeda
aims to establish Nairobi, Kenya as a center of excellence in
oncology/haematology
diagnosis, care and treatment in SSA. One of
the major objectives of its efforts in Nairobi will be to support
learning exchanges and training for African oncologists and
pathologists. Given the shortage of cancer specialists in the region,
Takeda is funding a fellowship program for first year oncology students
at the University of Nairobi as part of a Public-Private
Partnership, to help create a pipeline of future oncologists.

Takeda is also establishing a fellowship program for its employees to
share skills, experience and technical expertise to support local
healthcare capacity building in SSA, working with local HCPs, scientists
and NGOs. Other initiatives currently in development in SSA include
patient awareness interventions and Patient Assistance Programs to
address affordability barriers to accessing some of its innovative
medicines.

To help address the burdens of diabetes and hypertension,
Takeda is establishing a long-term partnership with select local
counties in Kenya and to create a mobile screening program for diabetes
and hypertension. The Company will also improve access to some of its
diabetes and hypertension medicines in SSA.

4. Takeda’s Research & Development (R&D)
Takeda’s
global R&D Access to Medicines efforts focus on improving access to
innovative medicines in countries with evolving healthcare systems by
increasing participation in its clinical trials, in partnership with
local health authorities, so the Company’s innovative medicines are
potentially approved faster1; accelerating registration of
its medicines and establishing early access programs, where allowed,
through the targeted life-cycle management of its existing medicines.

The patient-centric approach to R&D in these countries goes beyond the
development and provision of medicines as well, striving for sustainable
patient impact through local healthcare capacity building.

Communicable diseases (CDs) and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) also
place a disproportionate burden on patients in countries with evolving
healthcare systems. Takeda is supporting the development of new
medicines and vaccines to address these diseases through non-profit,
public-private partnerships, as well as through its Vaccine Business
Unit.

Takeda is a founding member of the Global Health Innovative
Technology (GHIT) Fund
, a pioneering, non-profit public-private
partnership established in Japan in April 2013 by the Government of
Japan, a consortium of five Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation
, to promote the discovery and
development of new drugs to fight communicable diseases in countries
with evolving healthcare systems:

  • Following Takeda’s lead, ten additional global pharmaceutical and
    biotechnology companies joined the GHIT Fund in June of 2016.
  • Takeda is a collaborative partner through GHIT on projects for
    malaria, tuberculosis, Chagas disease, and Leishmaniasis.

The Company is also establishing Research & Development partnerships for
CDs and NTDs with:

  • Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)
  • Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
  • The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance)
  • WIPO Re:Search: a consortium established by the World Intellectual
    property Organization (WIPO), in collaboration with BIO Ventures for
    Global Health (BVGH), to accelerate R&D of new drugs, vaccines, and
    diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis.

1 Subject to local regulatory approvals

5. Takeda’s Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) Initiatives

Takeda’s on-going CSR programs also
contribute to its Access to Medicines strategy by prioritising quality
of life through disease prevention and local healthcare capacity
building. Established programs include:

  • The Takeda Initiative: A ten-year program started in 2010 to
    support the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by
    strengthening the capacity of healthcare workers in Africa.
  • HERhealth: An initiative addressing the pressing need for
    women’s health awareness and services in evolving healthcare systems.
    Takeda has supported HERhealth since 2015 with Business for Social
    Responsibility (BSR) and aims to expand its reach to China, Ethiopia,
    Kenya and India in 2016 and 2017.

Recent Takeda CSR programs which commenced in FY2016 include:

  • Global Measles Vaccination for Children: In partnership with UN
    Foundation, Takeda made a 10-year commitment to immunize 5.4 million
    children with the measles vaccine in 40 countries in Africa, Asia and
    Latin America.
  • Community Health Workers Training for Maternal and Child Health: In
    partnership with World Vision, Takeda aims to build the capacity of
    1,400 community health workers to reduce preventable deaths in
    children by providing some 500,000 people with health knowledge and
    services over five years in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan.
  • Maternal and Child Health for Minority Tribes program: In
    partnership with Save the Children Japan, Takeda is supporting a
    program in Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos by providing 150,000 village
    people, including 40,000 women and children in minority tribes, with
    healthcare education, training and services over five years.
  • Digital Birth Registration: In partnership with Plan
    International Japan, Takeda is working for three years with the
    Government of Kenya to promote, an essential step to ensuring that
    children enjoy full rights and gain access to healthcare and education.

Contacts

Media Contacts:
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Vince
Docherty, +65 8332 4233
vince.docherty@takeda.com
Jocelyn
Gerst, +1 224 554 5542
jocelyn.gerst@takeda.com
Kazumi
Kobayashi, +81 (3) 3278-2095
kazumi.kobayashi@takeda.com

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