Takeda Pharmaceutical: Stronger Together

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Transforming the lives of patients and the planet is the lifeblood of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

Accelerating access to medicine while aiming to create an exceptional ​people experience – and ​protecting our planet​ – is the mission of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (NYSE: TAK).

As a values-based R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan with employees in 80+ countries, Takeda is committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to people worldwide. Their passion and pursuit of potentially life-changing treatments for patients are deeply rooted in over 240 years of distinguished history.

“Our values guide everything we do,” Babak Haghiri told BOSS. “We put the patient at the center, build trust with society, reinforce our reputation, and develop the business – in that order.”

Babak Haghiri

As Site Head at the Takeda Los Angeles plasma manufacturing plant, Haghiri is responsible for managing all aspects of site operations, including manufacturing, quality control, engineering, maintenance, logistics, supply chain, and safety at the sprawling facility. The company owns 34 manufacturing facilities across the globe, eight of which are focused on plasma-derived therapies.

Operational for the last 65 years, the site that Haghiri oversees is the largest plasma fractionation site in the Takeda network. It supports the manufacturing of plasma-derived therapies for the treatment of rare and complex chronic diseases, such as primary immunodeficiency, hemophilia, and hereditary angioedema, to name a few.

The facility manufactures critical life-saving therapies and medicines that thousands of people around the world with rare and complex chronic diseases rely on every day. Global demand for these therapies, particularly immunoglobulins, has increased dramatically over the last 15 years, and continues to grow.

The sites’ 950+ dedicated employees provide products to over 75 countries including the US, EU, and China. The facilities manufacture around the clock, 365 days a year, and feature comprehensive development labs with established small-scale models for their products and are at the ready to develop inspiring ideas into best-in-class products. “It’s an inspiring place to work because every day feels like a new opportunity to do more for our patients,” Haghiri said.

More than 80+ years of a pioneering legacy in producing plasma-derived therapies has established Takeda as a top three global provider with end-to-end capabilities spanning the plasma value chain from donor to patient.

Their broad and differentiated portfolio of plasma-derived products includes more than 20 therapies, constituting one of the broadest and most differentiated portfolios of plasma therapeutics available in the world. Takeda is also a world leader in manufacturing plasma products at commercial scale with a global production network comprising eight strategically located and interconnected facilities for optimal delivery of their products.

Multiple steps are required to create usable and safe therapies, including plasma collection and testing, screening, fractionation, packaging and distribution, filling, and purification.

Building a strong connection between their employees and the patients they serve is at the heart of Takeda’s mission. “Our employees are fully committed to our patients and our community,” Haghiri noted, adding the company’s philosophy of fostering diverse and inclusive work environments make the L.A. site a great place to work. “Our employee-led Patient Connection Team and affinity groups create educational and volunteer opportunities. Building trust within our community, by supporting schools and charities, is also critical to our success.”

BioLife, part of Takeda, is a global plasma collection network and an industry leader in the collection of high-quality plasma. Operating from more than 200 state-of-the-art facilities throughout the U.S. and Europe, BioLife builds strong relationships, essential connections and long-term partnerships to offer the best possible donation experience – providing more people than ever with the opportunity to change and save lives.

Takeda is also a world leader in manufacturing plasma products at commercial scale. Our global production network comprises eight strategically located and interconnected facilities for optimal delivery of our products around the world.

Creating a brighter future for patients and the planet

“As a responsible corporate citizen, we must do everything we can to continually reduce our environmental impact, putting environmental stewardship and resource conservation at the heart of our business operations and practices,” said Haghiri. The firm’s internal and external stakeholders expect the enterprise to set the highest standards in this respect — to care for the environment and to take actions that minimize their environmental impact.

“In thinking about how we can work to be better stewards of our environment, we, at the L.A. site, took an approach true to our values and corporate philosophy, thinking about how our decisions can make meaningful impact for patients, our people and the planet,” he explained. Given the abundance of sunlight in Southern California, investigating the ways they could use solar panels to source their own electricity at the L.A. plant made a great deal of sense.

They began by installing three separate photo-voltaic systems that will reduce the site’s carbon footprint by over 500 tons. Two of the systems will directly feed battery packs, allowing for about 2 MWh of energy storage. In addition to solar panels, they are also investing in fuel cells to generate about 4 MW of cleaner electricity, with the long-term goal of generating enough clean energy to be independent from the grid.

“Reducing our waste is another priority for the L.A. site,” he revealed. Currently, the facility is diverting over 80% of the waste they produce from landfills. Much of the waste is organic and is sent to a biogas generation facility, helping supply renewable natural gas to pipelines in the local area.

Now more than ever, reducing water consumption is essential throughout California, particularly in the southern part of the state. It should come as no surprise that the L.A. site is actively working on reducing its water consumption as it continues to increase production. “To help achieve our goals, we formed a Water Innovation Team in early 2021,” said Haghiri. “When the team issued a challenge to employees on how to reduce water use, they received many great ideas, some of which will save over a million gallons of water annually.”

Takeda’s dedicated employees play a major role in making these innovative solutions possible. There is a strong sense of purpose and connection between employees and finding innovative solutions to serve patients, directly and indirectly. “Putting the patient at the center of our efforts helped frame our decision making and guide our plans for our L.A. environmental projects,” he stressed.

The company is not satisfied just to be good corporate citizens; they strive to be great neighbors and support the communities in which they live and work. “We understand that there is no one solution to achieving carbon neutrality, and instead requires a multi-pronged approach to create a more sustainable world.

“Every day, our employees apply their knowledge and skills to answer one question: How can we do more for our patients? Everything at Takeda starts with this question,” Baghiri concluded. “This is the spirit that guides us toward better health for people and a brighter future for the world.”