Japanese drugmaker Takeda plans to invest $30 billion in its U.S. operations over the next five years, according to CEO Christophe Weber, who made the announcement Thursday during the company’s earnings call.
“This reflects the fact that the U.S. is the world’s leading market for biopharmaceutical innovation,” Weber said, while emphasizing that the investment strategy is “not new” and is to maintain Takeda’s presence in the U.S. which includes a “massive” manufacturing network.
The latest Takeda investment will help ensure “that our manufacturing sites are upgraded up to the best efficiency and productivity,” Weber added.
Of Takeda’s 22 internal global manufacturing sites, 20 supply the U.S. including seven located in the country with the rest in Europe, Japan, and Singapore. The company’s strategic contract manufacturers, which Takeda uses for about 20% of its production, are distributed across the U.S., Europe and Japan — with approximately 70% of contract manufacturing organization spend from U.S.-based manufacturers, according to Weber.
The Takeda investment in U.S. operations follows similar announcements recently by other Big Pharma companies, including AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis.
President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals in an effort to incentivize drugmakers to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. However, Weber said Takeda's investment in U.S. operations is not a new change in strategy for the company which “has historically invested significantly in the U.S.”
Still, imposing tariffs on imported drugs could impact Japanese drugmakers like Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, and Takeda, according to Reuters — which reported recently that the U.S. market accounted for more than half of Takeda’s revenue.
However, during Thursday’s earnings call, Weber emphasized that Takeda’s potential exposure to U.S. and China tariffs is limited, with manufacturing centered in Europe, Japan, Singapore, and in the U.S. He noted that while approximately 50% of total Takeda revenue is from the U.S., the custom value of imports is only about 8% to 10% of its total U.S. revenue.
“Our largest product by revenue in the U.S., Entyvio, is 100% U.S. country of origin,” Weber said. “We have a very significant presence in the U.S. This is why we have actually a potentially low exposure to tariff.”
While imports may be subject to potential tariff impacts, Weber noted that Takeda is taking mitigation measures through inventory and supply chain management.
