Takeda enters into partnership with Quintiles and Covance
Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda will work in close partnership with Quintiles and Covance in the execution of global development programs to support new therapeutic compounds.
Explaining the company's reasons for entering into the deal, Robert Ahlbrandt, senior vice president of global development operations for Takeda's pharmaceutical development division said: “Takeda is focused on growing its global drug development footprint, especially in Asia, while at the same time ensuring quality and increasing efficiency of our operations.”
The company says through these newly forged relationships it will move towards a fully virtual outsourcing model, combining its own expertise and capabilities with those of Quintiles and Covance in an attempt to improve both productivity, and its global growth prospects.
“Our new strategic partnerships with Covance and Quintiles will improve the agility and productivity or our drug development activities, helping us to deliver innovative new medicines to patients globally,” said Ahlbrandt.
The agreement goes some way towards fulfilling Takeda's aim to have a “global program-level sourcing strategy” to help increase its operational efficiency. As a result of the agreement the company will have full access to the clinical development and central laboratory services of Quintiles and Covance, with both companies providing the Japanese firm with dedicated resources to supports its development pipeline.
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In other news, Takeda suffered a setback earlier this month relating to the obesity drug Contrave - developed in conjunction with Californian biotech company, Orexigen.
In a statement dated 1 Feb, 2011, Takeda announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had raised concerns about the drug's “cardiovascular safety profile” when used long-term in a population of obese and overweight subjects, and had demanded further tests be conducted before granting approval.
