Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited has been selected by the Japanese government to receive a 7.2 billion yen ($70.5 million) supplemental subsidy to expand production capacity for pandemic influenza vaccines at its plant in Hikari City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In return for the subsidy, Takeda will enhance its commercial vaccine production facilities to supply vaccine to the Japanese government for an additional 8 million people (for a total of 33 million people) in the event of an influenza pandemic.

In 2009, Takeda was selected as a recipient of a public subsidy for approximately 2.4 billion yen ($23.5 million), which the Japanese government offered under its primary supplementary budget to support investments associated with the development and production of pandemic influenza vaccines. In 2011, Takeda was also selected as a recipient of a public subsidy for approximately 23.9 billion yen ($22.5 million), which the Japanese government offered under its secondary supplementary budget to advance commercial production facilities of pandemic influenza vaccines. Takeda used these funds, along with its own resources, to establish a cell-culture influenza vaccine manufacturing facility at Hikari.

In 2010, Takeda and Baxter International Inc. entered into a development, license, and technology transfer agreement in which Baxter licensed exclusive rights to its proprietary cell-culture pandemic influenza vaccine technology for the Japanese market. Under the agreement, Takeda and Baxter conducted joint development activities and constructed manufacturing facilities to establish a supply source in Japan. In March, 2014, Takeda received the new drug application approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for a cell-culture influenza vaccine (H5N1 and prototype) to be manufactured at Hikari.

Source: Takeda