Takeda Selects Five New Partnerships for Annual Global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program, Supporting Disease Prevention to Improve Health in Developing and Emerging Countries

OSAKA, June 26, 2019 /3BL Media/ --- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) (“Takeda”) today announced the addition of five partners to its Global CSR Program for 2019, which contributes to the long-term health of people through disease prevention and capacity building in developing and emerging countries. Approximately 20,000 employees worldwide cast their votes, selecting five new, large-scale programs run, respectively, by City Cancer Challenge, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), SeriousFun Children’s Network, UNICEF, and the UN Foundation. All five programs are being launched by the aforementioned organizations in partnership with Takeda. This year, Takeda has increased its commitment to 4.6 billion yen to accelerate change for tackling some of the biggest global challenges.

Takeda's Global CSR Program, its flagship CSR activity, makes multi-year commitments in partnership with key global stakeholders. The Program is rooted in the company’s patient-centricity and dedication to disease prevention and the improvement of access to healthcare that transforms people's lives in developing and emerging countries. Since its launch in 2016, Global CSR Program partnerships have been delivering tangible results, contributing significantly to global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).* Results range from expanding patient’s access to quality diagnosis and treatment, including immunization, in disease-endemic countries to training health workers and strengthening health systems worldwide.

"We look forward to helping change more lives for the better, working closely with these creative, high-impact organizations to accelerate progress toward the SDGs," said Haruhiko Hirate, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs Officer. "We know that long-term commitments matter, and currently have nine programs in operation, running between 3 and 10 years. Each program is carefully selected by employees in our 80 countries of operation. It means a lot to all of us that Takeda is contributing to the health of people in communities across the globe."

As a pharmaceutical company that is committed to improving people’s lives, Takeda strives for Better Health and a Brighter Future for people worldwide through leading innovation in medicine. Its vision is of a world with accessible healthcare for all, where prevention measures are exponentially advanced and billions are freed of disease. Takeda is committed to achieving the SDGs together with the global community.

In addition to the following 14 programs, Takeda also supports public-private partnerships that aim to improve health worldwide, together with the Government of Japan, such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Global Heath Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund, and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

◆ Program Outlines and Partner Organizations in FY2019

The following nine programs which were selected by Takeda employees in FY2016, FY2017, and FY2018 respectively are making good progress.

◆ Program Outlines and Partner Organizations in FY2018

◆ Program Outlines and Partner Organizations in FY2017

◆ Program Outlines and Partner Organizations in FY2016

* Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): On September 25th 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations adopted a set of 17 goals, comprising 169 targets, for sustainable development.

Partner Organizations and Program Outlines

1. SeriousFun Children’s Network: Transforming the Lives of Children with Serious Illness and Their Families

■  Outline: This program aims to develop and expand new and innovative programming for the global Network of specialized medical camps and programs that deliver life-changing experiences to children with serious illnesses and their families; carry out research and evaluation efforts to track the impact of camp on the lives of children and families and further improve programs to meet their needs; and build medical capacity throughout the Network.

■  Areas: United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean

■  Period: 5 years

■  Budget: 1 billion yen

2. DNDi: Global Access Program for the Most Neglected Patients

■  Outline: This program aims to expand neglected patient’s access to quality diagnosis and treatment in disease-endemic countries, including in peripheral settings, and consequently prevent disease progression while saving lives. DNDi targets five Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs): sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis and mycetoma that are characterized by significant morbidity and/or mortality and have been prioritized due to the current limited availability and accessibility of effective diagnostics and treatment.

■  Areas: 16 countries across Africa, Asia, and South America

■  Period: 5 years

■  Budget: 1 billion yen

3. City Cancer Challenge: City Health Financing Lab

■  Outline: City Cancer Challenge’s participatory, inclusive approach brings together private sector, civil society, and governments to advance quality cancer care and treatment, and strengthen health systems. By supporting 10 cities with the design, planning, and implementation of sustainable cancer solutions, City Cancer Challenge will impact 80 million people by 2023.

■  Areas: Global

■  Period: 5 years

■  Budget: 1 billion yen

4. UN Foundation: Immunization and Universal Health Coverage

■  Outline: Takeda and Shot@Life’s partnership aims to strengthen health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa through improved disease surveillance and data utilization enabling effective immunization planning and outbreak response. Stronger immunization programs will reach more children, strengthening primary health care and bringing these countries closer to achieving universal health coverage.

■  Areas: Sub-Saharan Africa

■  Period: 5 years

■  Budget: 550 million yen

5. UNICEF: Investment in Innovation and Frontier Technology

■  Outline: This program will invest in 25 health-focused and drone startups to develop, realize, and scale cutting-edge solutions for children, as well as scale artificial intelligence-based epidemiological modeling to predict and help prevent infectious disease outbreaks in 3 countries.

■  Areas: Global

■  Period: 5 years

■  Budget: 1 billion yen

About SeriousFun Children’s Network
SeriousFun Children's Network is a global community of 30 camps and programs serving children with serious illnesses and their families, always free of charge. The Network is the leader in the field of medical specialty camps, delivering more than one million life-changing experiences to children and families from more than 50 countries. Each member camp is an independent, not-for-profit organization dependent upon private funding to serve all children at no cost to their families. To learn more about SeriousFun, visit www.seriousfunnetwork.org. 

About DNDi
A not-for-profit research and development organization, DNDi works to deliver new treatments for neglected diseases, including leishmaniasis, filarial infections, human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, and mycetoma, and for neglected patients, including pediatric HIV patients and people living with hepatitis C virus who cannot access treatment due to high costs. DNDi has delivered eight new treatments to date, including new drug combinations for visceral leishmaniasis, two fixed-dose antimalarials, and DNDi’s first successfully developed new chemical entity, fexinidazole, approved in 2018 for the treatment of both stages of sleeping sickness. www.dndi.org

About City Cancer Challenge
City Cancer Challenge’s mission is to create a global community of cities and partners working together to design, plan and implement cancer solutions to save lives. Our aim is to improve access to quality cancer care in countries around the world by transforming the way stakeholders at the city, regional, and national levels collectively design, plan, and implement local cancer solutions. The approach is built on the core principle that cities can drive impact at national level by crafting data-driven solutions with the support of a network of global, regional, and local partners that reflect an understanding of the unique local context. https://citycancerchallenge.org/

About UN Foundation
In our interconnected world, our shared future rests upon our ability to act together with common purpose. The United Nations was created to strengthen the bonds of international cooperation around shared interests and values. It is the one place where all countries and citizens can unite behind collective action to address our greatest challenges and deliver a better world for all. The UN Foundation supports the UN’s ability to tackle these challenges and harness opportunities for the benefit of all humanity. As we head deeper into the 21st century, this task is more urgent than ever. We work by building communities and incubating initiatives to support the UN and its priority issues, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). https://shotatlife.org/

About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Gastroenterology (GI), Rare Diseases, and Neuroscience. We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries and regions. For more information, visit www.takeda.com

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