Guided by Our Values: Supporting Global COVID-19 Response

May 13, 2020

During this unprecedented time, we continue to be guided by our mission to strive towards Better Health and a Brighter Future for people worldwide. Our values of Takeda-ism (integrity, fairness, honesty and perseverance) and Patient-Trust-Reputation-Business drive our commitment to address the impacts of COVID-19, and we recognize that our role as a global pharmaceutical company is first and foremost to serve patients and our communities.

Today, that responsibility carries special urgency: to support essential efforts at the front lines of the novel coronavirus, as well as the critical work that prepares health systems to respond effectively to this pandemic and other endemic health emergencies. In addition to forming the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance with industry peers to accelerate the development of a potential plasma-derived therapy, we are also bringing our resources to bear on three specific global initiatives that align with the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s appeal to support the UN COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan.

Takako Ohyabu, Chief Global Corporate Affairs Officer

Takeda will donate a total of JPY 2.5 billion (USD 23 million*) across three UN-led organizations to strengthen health systems, improve access to care and supplies, and address food insecurity. Funding benefits several organizations that are supporting vulnerable communities, many of which are in even greater need during the global crisis, including the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Building on Takeda’s longstanding commitment to help solve health care issues for people around the world, these funds will help address urgent systems work as well as the needs of those on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19, in direct response to the UN Appeal.

The allocation of Takeda’s contributions includes:

JPY 1.5 billion (USD 14 million*) to the World Food Programme to lead the COVID-19 humanitarian logistics response, longer-term strengthening of public health supply chains and improving country-level pandemic preparedness to help provide better access to supplies for vulnerable populations

JPY 500 million (USD 4.6 million*) to the United Nations Population Fund to ensure access to quality maternal and newborn health care, including for those facing life-threatening complications during the global health crisis

JPY 500 million (USD 4.6 million*) to the International Atomic Energy Agency to help enhance national laboratories’ technical and operational diagnostic capabilities, providing emergency COVID-19 testing packages

Strengthening Pandemic Response and Preparedness and Health Supply Chains through WFP

As health supply chains face new and unprecedented threats from pandemics, an estimated two billion people currently do not have access to essential supplies. Our work with WFP**, the logistics lead in the humanitarian community, will be based on a five-year partnership to make health systems more resilient and enhance their ability to absorb and respond to health shocks by improving existing supply chains.

The partnership will be activated over two phases. The first will immediately support the UN’s COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan by funding a 92-bed treatment and isolation center for humanitarian workers responding to COVID-19 and a supply chain control tower to allow WFP to monitor end-to-end humanitarian cargo movements in support of the World Health Organization and other humanitarian partners.

The second phase will focus on collaborating with public health stakeholders in four African countries to boost their capacity, promote best practices in managing health supply chains, and introduce a variety of tools and processes, such as response stations and simulation-based training.

Ensuring Access to Quality Maternal and Newborn Health Care through UNFPA

As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly around the world, the impact on acute care services such as maternal and newborn care in countries with under-resourced health systems is likely to be substantial. Lack of access to personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers, as well as a shortage of essential medical supplies for maternal and newborn health, makes these countries particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis, with potentially dire consequences for women and newborns.

Takeda’s contribution to the UN’s COVID-19 Appeal will help support the continued delivery of life-saving maternal and newborn health services to at least 350,000 women and newborns, including 19,700 women facing life-threatening pregnancy complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will prioritize regions and maternity units with the highest vulnerability to ensure that frontline health care workers, most of whom are women, have access to essential medical supplies, including PPE, and that maternity units are providing quality maternal and newborn health services in a safe environment.

Enhancing National Laboratories’ Diagnostic Capabilities through IAEA

Over 200 national-designated laboratories for COVID-19 in IAEA member states have requested the organization’s assistance; demand is increasing every day. Our support will help IAEA continue providing emergency assistance in the form of diagnostic kits, equipment and technical training to help rapidly and accurately detect and identify the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

IAEA’s emergency assistance package includes real-time RT-PCR machines, diagnostic kits that can run up to 2,000 tests per kit, biosafety supplies such as PPE and lab cabinets, as well as provision of standard operating procedures to identify the virus, following World Health Organization recommendations.

Consistent with our existing multi-year Global Corporate Social Responsibility commitments to strengthen health systems, these new contributions are dedicated to helping bolster health system capacity to address the current pandemic and better prepare for future disease threats and outbreaks. We hope that by partnering with these organizations, our values will continue to make a difference for patients and communities today and in the years to come.

*Financial information relating to the donations has been converted from JPY to USD using the ¥107:$1 as of May 11, 2020. For the avoidance of doubt, the amounts payable as part of the donations are denominated in JPY.

**WFP does not endorse any product or service.