Takeda Ventures Inc. president and CEO Dr. Graeme Martin brings 230 years of experience to Israel. He will be a guest at the 2013 IATI BioMed 2013 Conference on June 10-12 in Tel Aviv. Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (TSE: 4502), founded in 1771, was a traditional Japanese drug company, which mainly operated in Asia. Over the past three decades, it has become of the 15 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, a list that usually features US and European companies.
Takeda has no activity in Israel, but this is likely to change. "Our business development people are in contact with many companies in Israel," says Martin. "I first visited Israel a few months ago with my team, and we were very impressed by what we saw. We have the blessing of Takeda's top management to work more in Israel. In fact, Israel is now a kind of hole in our portfolio, which we feel obliged to fill. We'll also be happy to work with the Office of the Chief Scientist."
"Globes": What is your opinion of Israeli life sciences companies?
Martin: "I was very impressed by the research and development, which enable local companies to compete against the best companies in the world. Their ability to solve problems is among the best in the world. What was immediately clear from our visit was that Israelis solve problems differently. It's hard for me to put a finger on it, but the solutions are different, and this increases the chances of solving problems which haven’t been solved before. If we operate in Israel, we can benefit from the two approaches for problem-solving - the classic and the Israeli."
Martin's view of operations in Israel faithfully represents Takeda's organizational culture. The company is centrally managed, and at the same time it tries to find "holes" and fill them, mostly through acquisitions. "Takeda's thinking is the most proactive of all the corporations I've worked with," says Martin. "Other big pharma companies are more reactive to situations. Although they react fast, it's still reaction."
What is the process by which a Japanese company become a multinational?
"You could say that it was born of necessity. To be the leader in the Japanese market, Takeda developed amazing discovery and R&D capabilities, and if you already have innovative drugs, there's no point in not being multinational." He says that the process was not always welcomed by the Japanese workers or people, who saw their flagship company turning into a multinational (paralleling the process undergone by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA)), but ultimately pride in the company's position in the world won out. The company is still managed from Japan."
What is your role in this process?
"When I joined the company, just ten years ago, in 2003, there were very few non-Japanese there. The situation has since reversed, and now we're the majority. We've made a number of successful acquisitions and caused very little upheaval at the company. In 2008, we acquired the American company Millennium Pharmaceuticals, which has since been managed independently. When you barely hear about a merger, it usually means that it was positive."
Takeda does not hesitate to pull out its check book. In 2011, it paid €9.6 billion to acquire Nycomed. "The acquisition was also made to bring us early-stage drug discovery capabilities, and to reach many more countries, including developing countries. We went from a presence in 28 countries to 70 countries with one acquisition."
It's impossible to ignore Japan's economic crisis of the past few years. How does it affect you?
"These have not been easy years. All pharma companies had to cope with the loss of patents on core products. We too prepared for this, but it was hard to predict the force of the one-two punch of the loss of patents during a crisis in Japan and globally. But we overcame it."
What is your vision for the future?
"In the coming decades, the life sciences will probably undergo huge changes because of economic pressures which the system cannot currently handle, and because of the entry of digital and Internet systems into healthcare.
"Pharmaceutical companies will have to change. They will no longer supply just pills or injections, but a comprehensive solution for a disease. Many companies already understand this, but few have applied it. The companies will be more involved in diagnosis and monitoring patients. The ultimate goal is to tell a patient, 'We know that this drug will work on you.' This is in contrast to the current situation with patients suffering from depression, for example, in which several medications are tried until the right one is found at a heavy personal and financial cost."
Which fields most appeal to you?
"The whole world of pharmaceuticals, except for classical antibiotics. Devices which are relevant for locating drugs, but not medical devices. Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, and, in general any drug that passes through the blood-brain barrier, which will change the treatment of diseases of the brain. In the coming years, the information we'll gather from the genome will drive the pharmaceutical world forward, and we'll be part of this."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 3, 2013
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