Japanese pharma giant Takeda invests €300 million in Belgian facility

Japanese pharmaceutical multinational Takeda is going to invest 300 million euros in its facility in the Belgian city of Lessines, the company announced on Tuesday.

In the city of Lessines, Takeda processes blood plasma into therapies for rare diseases. The pharmaceutical company plans to build a new production facility and warehouse at its Belgian site, amounting to an investment of 300 million euros. The investment is Takeda's largest ever in Belgium.

Takeda will fund most of the project using its own resources, but the company also plans to appeal to public funds.

"We are going to launch a procedure to obtain subsidies from the Walloon region," says communications manager Véronique Goethals.

The investment will not create any new jobs, but it will ensure the continuation of activities in Lessines, Goethals adds.

"The people who are currently employed in the old production line will eventually be employed in the new production line." Takeda produces 24/7 in Lessines. ​ 

The investment was announced on Tuesday to mark the Belgian site's 50th anniversary. With the investment, Takeda "confirms the importance of Belgium as a strategic location for the global production and distribution of plasma-derived therapies," the company stated in a press release. The new production facility and warehouse will also allow Takeda to digitise and green its operations. All required energy will be self-generated and water consumption will be reduced by 90 percent by next year, for instance.

Takeda's plant in Lessines employs over 1,200 people. Over 300,000 patients can be treated every year thanks to treatments produced in the Belgian city.

"Treatments using blood plasma have increased significantly over the past decades and continue to grow. With the projects announced today, we can help tens of thousands of people who have no or few therapeutic alternatives," explains Giles Platford, President of the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit at Takeda.

(KOR)

Employees at the Takeda site in Lessines, Belgium © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK