Takeda Canada Celebrates First Anniversary

Japanese cherry blossom trees donated to City of Mississauga to honour company's traditional heritage

MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 28 /CNW/ - Today, Takeda Canada, Inc. celebrates its first anniversary in Canada. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, one of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies worldwide with a nearly 230 year heritage in Japan, established Takeda Canada in Mississauga in April 2009 as part of a significant global expansion effort.

"We are honoured to celebrate Takeda Canada's first anniversary today," said Daaron Dohler, President and General Manager, Takeda Canada, Inc. "In our first year, we've established our Canadian headquarters and built a team that is focused on building Takeda's presence and forming relationships with stakeholders in a new region."

To celebrate this milestone and in honour of its Japanese heritage, Takeda Canada presented the City of Mississauga with a donation of 10 Japanese cherry blossom trees at today's City Council meeting. Japanese cherry blossoms are indigenous to Japan and are considered an omen of good fortune and an emblem of love, respect and spring. This donation is also to commemorate Earth Day.

"Takeda Canada selected Mississauga for its Canadian headquarters because it is a central location that offers a sophisticated talent pool, modern healthcare system, leading medical centres, thriving biotechnology industry and tremendous scientific expertise and innovation," said Dohler. "Takeda Canada is committed to growing our head office team, adding a national sales force and forging strong, collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders in order to serve the unmet needs of healthcare providers and patients in Canada."

Aligned with Canada's federal job creation initiative, Takeda Canada has to date created 35 new jobs and plans to increase its national workforce by more than 200 per cent over the next few years.

In its first year, Takeda Canada reacquired the commercial rights to type 2 diabetes treatment ACTOS(R) (pioglitazone HCI) and submitted multiple New Drug Submissions to Health Canada. In the coming years, Takeda Canada is focused on bringing a number of therapeutic options to Canadians in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, oncology and gastroenterology.

First Anniversary Event

Takeda Canada will host an event on April 28 at 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. to celebrate its first anniversary.

    
    Location:    Takeda Canada
                 6750 Century Avenue, Suite 400
                 Mississauga, ON L5N 2V8

    Time:        11 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Celebratory Activities
                 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.   Lunch
    

About Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. and Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc.

Based in Deerfield, Ill., Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. and Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc. are subsidiaries of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. The respective companies currently market oral diabetes, insomnia, rheumatology and gastroenterology treatments and seek to bring innovative products to patients through a pipeline that includes compounds in development for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, neurology and other conditions. To learn more about these Takeda companies, visit www.takedacanada.com.

For further information: Laurene Redding, Takeda Canada, Inc., [phone], [email protected]; Amanda Miehm, Julie Bellissimo, NATIONAL Public Relations, [phone], [email protected], [email protected]