Takeda Pharmaceutical has partnered with PRA Health Sciences, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based contract research organization, to establish a 50/50 joint venture in Japan to provide clinical trial delivery and pharmacovigilance services as a strategic partner of Takeda in Japan.

Under the agreement, Takeda will transfer all shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical Data Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda, to PRA in the second quarter of 2017 with approximately 60 employees supporting Takeda Development Center Japan. The newly established joint venture will leverage its internal resources and expertise to manage a portfolio of studies for Takeda across Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials and provide pharmacovigilance and other operational services for both development and marketed product portfolios with Takeda Development Center Japan.

Takeda will initially establish a new, wholly-owned subsidiary in the first quarter of 2017, which will become a part of the development center in Japan. Approximately 140 Takeda employees will be transferred to the new subsidiary to support drug development and marketed products. Upon closing of the joint venture, expected to occur in the second quarter of 2017, the new subsidiary will be jointly owned by Takeda and PRA.

PRA provides outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Since 2000, PRA has performed approximately 3,500 clinical trials worldwide and has participated in trials that led to US Food and Drug Administration or international regulatory approval of more than 70 drugs.

Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical