Moon Hee-seok, General Manager of Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea, said the company would aim to achieve remarkable growth in 2021, celebrating the 10th anniversary.

The Korean offshoot of the Japanese pharmaceutical firm faced both global and domestic challenges in 2020. While coping with the Covid-19 pandemic, it had to adjust to radical changes within the company, such as Takeda’s acquisition of Shire and some products' sell-off to another drugmaker.

Despite the headwinds, including Covid-19, Moon was confident that Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea could successfully grow this year.

Korea Biomedical Review has met with Moon to hear why he thought so and what he planned to do.

Question: The Covid-19 pandemic hit the entire globe last year. What’s the situation like in Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea?

Answer: The year 2020 was tough not only for the pharmaceutical industry but everyone due to Covid-19. Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea had a lot of thoughts on how to overcome this difficult time. Above all, we endeavored to help employees work in a safe environment, respect each other, and fully demonstrate their capabilities. We complied with the local infectious disease-related guidelines and cooperated closely with the Korean Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association (KRPIA). Internally, we coordinated with the Asia-Pacific region, discussing what would be the best support for employees.

Depending on the number of daily new cases, we had workers work from home following the health authorities’ guidelines. We provided employees with masks and hand sanitizers. The company also disinfected workplaces weekly and supported employees’ taxi expenses and parking to minimize infection risks during the commute. By introducing “Smart Work,” employees can work at the company from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., which is the mandatory working hour.

Although Covid-19 brought some delays in local clinical trials of certain items and approval, the delays were not significant enough to require major strategic revisions.

Q: Takeda has gone through many changes recently, such as the acquisition of Shire and the sale of some products to Celltrion. Can you share Takeda’s vision?

A: Takeda was founded in 1781. The company celebrates its 240th anniversary this year. Takeda used to be a traditional pharmaceutical company with strength in primary care (PC) and over-the-counter (OTC) markets. However, since the early 2000s, the company has continuously made efforts to become a global firm and put a lot of thought into which direction it had to go. As a result of these thoughts and actions, the company reinforced anticancer pipelines in the mid-2000s. Then, through the acquisition of Millennium and Shire, the company decided that it would focus on specialty care, too.

Takeda’s four key business areas are oncology, gastroenterology, rare diseases, and neuroscience. Also, we are trying to obtain approval for new vaccines. At the recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Takeda Pharmaceutical CEO Christophe Weber said that the next 10 years would be another leap forward for Takeda. Takeda aims to achieve over 50 trillion won ($45.5 billion) in sales by 2030. The company has various pipelines divided into “Wave 1” for those to be released within the next five years and “Wave 2” for those to be released after that. Equipped. Takeda's vision is to develop innovative medicines that can change patients' lives and drive growth.

Q: PC and OTC products have been cash cows for Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea. It seems inevitable that the sell-off of the products to Celltrion will carve out the company’s revenue. What’s your strategy on this?

A: We will indeed have changes in our revenue due to the sale of PC and OTC products, which have shown robust growth thanks to our employees’ hard work. However, we are still within the top 10 among multinational pharmaceutical companies in terms of revenue, according to IQVIA’s data for the third quarter in 2020. I expect that the company will grow even more in the future. As Takeda Pharmaceutical aims to focus on treatments that can change patients' lives in line with its global strategy, the growth pace will accelerate further.

Q: Although Takeda's strategy required some drastic changes in the business model, it accompanied employment issues. What is the current situation at Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea, and how are you communicating with workers?

A: The sale and all the following situations have ended. We considered what our best efforts would be for employees who were inevitably forced to leave Takeda. We made efforts to provide maximum opportunities and support through continuous discussions with the headquarters. Now, our organizational changes are almost finished. As we have had a difficult time together, we will continue to think about the future together.

To promote communication between management and employees, we opened an intranet site and had a relay of praise. To help employees work from home smoothly, we also provided headsets. When it comes to supporting employees, everything is open, and we are eager to listen. We are enhancing various training and workshops to empower the capabilities of employees. We provide development opportunities not only in Korea but in the Asia Pacific region and worldwide.

Q: You have spent two years as General Manager of Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea. How do you recall the time?

A: While working in the pharmaceutical sector, I have tried to practice “servant leadership.” When I first took office, I was worried if I could do my job because the company grew rapidly in Korea and was larger than the organization I had previously led. I also worried that I could face many challenges if I had to lead the company in the global headquarters' direction. But I contemplated and concentrated on what I had to do, trying not to be bothered by external evaluations.

The company had organizational changes in line with the global headquarters’ strategy and the company’s core competency development for the past two years. So, I tried to find a win-win way that could both help employees and achieve growth. It wasn't easy, but I think it worked out smoothly by working with our staff and the Asia-Pacific region. Now the company is stabilized to a certain degree, ready to look ahead and move on. Thinking that we are on the starting line again, we are working hard to leap forward in the next 10 years.

Q: Last year, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea performed well in anticancer drugs. However, it was weak in the area of rare disease treatment that Shire had. Can you tell us about your plans in this area?

A: In the recent one or two years, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea successfully put Ninlaro in a risk-sharing agreement (RSA) and expanded indication for Kynteles. These two drugs have been prepared for a long time, and there are many pipelines that Takeda has had. In the area of rare diseases, Takeda plans to release new products. It takes a long time from clinical trials to development when it comes to rare disease treatments. However, after a little more time, Takeda will supply innovative therapies for patients with rare diseases.

Q: You said the global headquarters prepared products for Wave 1 and Wave 2. There should be time differences in introducing new drugs and preparations between Korea and other countries. What’s your strategy for a new drug release in the Korean market?

A: In product strategy, the early stage of development is important. So, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea tries hard to include Korea in clinical trials of new drug candidates. The Takeda Development Center Asia (TDC Asia), which is in charge of drug development in Asia, is located in China, and TDC Asia recently recruited Korea Development Lead. A staff member of TDC Asia, a specialist physician, is working in Korea to help quickly conduct clinical trials when products included in Wave 1 are introduced in Korea. Through this, we can have more influence at a higher level.

Besides, we consider ways such as the Early Access Program (EAP) to help patients as soon as possible before our drug wins insurance benefits. We are preparing sales/marketing as well. We are also preparing to share the entire process of introducing new medicines and overseas cases with the head office through the Launch Excellence Team of the Business Operations.

Q: The government is conservative toward granting insurance benefits, especially to immunotherapies. What’s your view on this?

A: It is difficult for patients because anticancer agents or treatments for rare diseases are very expensive. But I think patients’ access to anticancer drugs has significantly improved through reimbursements in the past two or three years.

Still, I feel sorry that the government’s cancer drug review committee seems too conservative and considers financial costs a lot. I think it would be great to review reimbursement with more scientific evidence and consideration for patient accessibility.

Treatments for rare diseases still have much room for improvement in terms of patient accessibility. Rare disease drugs can rarely be compared to alternative medicines, and their incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) is low, which makes it almost impossible to prove its economic feasibility. The government is also conservative in granting exemption of economic feasibility evaluation for rare disease drugs. I think the government should ease regulations in this area by allowing reimbursement in advance, exempting economic feasibility assessment, or improving RSA.

Takeda understands the Korean market very well and is fully aware that the domestic reimbursement situation is not easy. Based on this understanding, we can set drug prices appropriate for the Korean situation. Due to the recent Chinese drug price reference system, there may be a difference in a product launch timeline, such as launching a drug in China first. But we had never failed a launch in Korea when we released the drug in other countries. We don’t know how the U.S. drug pricing system will unfold, but we are contemplating various aspects, such as how much to refer to Korean drug prices. This is not something that one company's effort can solve. We will have to think about how to respond to this jointly with KRPIA.