Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited has formed a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support global polio eradication in developing countries. With this funding, Takeda will develop, license, and supply at least 50 million doses per year of Sabin-strain inactivated poliovirus vaccine (sIPV) to more than 70 developing countries. The vaccine will be manufactured at Takeda's facility in Hikari, Japan. This effort is aligned with Takeda's strategy to use innovation and partnerships to address critical unmet needs in global public health, and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015.

Under the agreement, the Gates Foundation will provide a $38 million grant to Takeda to leverage its vaccine manufacturing platform to develop and license a safe and effective Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, and make at least 50 million doses per year available at an affordable price for developing countries receiving Gavi support. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, brings together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world's poorest countries. Takeda's sIPV was originally licensed from the Japan Polio Research Institute, which is now a part of BIKEN.

Source: Takeda