Takashi Shoda, current chairman and representative director of Daiichi Sankyo Company, will be stepping down and taking on a position as senior corporate advisor to the company. The move is subject to approval at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on June 23 and formal resolutions at a subsequent board meeting.

Shoda was president and chief executive offer of Daiichi Sankyo Company in 2008/2009, when Daiichi acquired a controlling stake (63.4%) in the Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories. In April of this year, Daiichi agreed to sell its stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories to Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, a deal which is expected to close in December 2014. The sale of Ranbaxy to Sun Pharma followed multiple manufacturing problems at Ranbaxy, which included most recently an FDA import alert for active pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured at Ranbaxy’s facility in Toansa, India.  

See related stories: Ranbaxy Suspends API Shipments from Indian Plants 

Source: Daiichi Sankyo