Takeda China Appoints Huang Haoyu as Head of Oncology Business Unit

Takeda China’s Oncology Business Unit Head Confirmed!

On the 26th, Takeda China announced to its employees that Huang Haoyu has officially joined Takeda China as the Head of the Oncology Business Unit and a member of the Takeda China Leadership Team, reporting directly to Shan Guohong, President of Takeda China, effective immediately.

Prior to joining Takeda China, Huang Haoyu served as the General Manager of Baxter China’s Renal Care Division. In fact, Mr. Huang has many years of leadership and team management experience in the oncology field, having held key positions in the oncology product businesses of five major multinational pharmaceutical companies: Bayer Schering, Sanofi, Novartis, Roche, and AbbVie.

Da Mi previously introduced him; here is a brief recap. Huang Haoyu graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. He entered the pharmaceutical industry as a medical representative in 1996 and early in his career served as a product manager in the oncology divisions of Bayer Schering and Sanofi. In 2006, he joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals as a marketing manager and later became the head of Novartis’ oncology business unit in Taiwan.

In June 2012, Huang Haoyu joined Roche as the Director of the Oncology and Rheumatology Business Unit in the Taiwan region. In August 2014, he was appointed Vice President of Roche China’s Primary Oncology Business Unit, responsible for the overall brand and business operational strategies for Herceptin and Xeloda. According to feedback from colleagues at MRLCUB at the time, Huang Haoyu’s leadership was highly recognized by employees at Roche. In 2015, Herceptin achieved sales of RMB 2 billion, setting a new record for product sales at Roche China.

On July 31, 2016, Huang Haoyu departed from Roche Pharmaceuticals and returned to his hometown to assume the role of General Manager of AbbVie in Taiwan (see MRCLUB’s historical message: “Roche’s Huang Haoyu to Depart at the End of This Month”), dedicating himself to the development and strategic deployment of AbbVie’s immunology and oncology pipelines in the Taiwan region.

On June 15, 2018, Huang Haoyu returned to Shanghai and joined Baxter as the General Manager of Baxter China’s Renal Care Division (see MRCLUB historical message: Huang Haoyu to Join Baxter China).

Huang Haoyu’s joining of Takeda China has drawn significant attention from the industry. As previously introduced to readers, Takeda Global originally had four core therapeutic areas: oncology, gastroenterology, neuroscience, and vaccines. Following its acquisition of Shire, a giant in rare diseases, Takeda added two more product portfolios—rare diseases and plasma-derived therapies—forming six core therapeutic areas. The former head of Takeda China’s Oncology Business Unit was Xu Jian’en. On February 5 this year, Takeda China announced that Xu Jian’en had decided to leave the company and return to Taipei to reunite with his family due to personal reasons.

According to Dami’s understanding at the time, Xu Jian’en suffered from an eye condition and returned to Taipei for treatment last year; his departure from Takeda China was also due to this matter. On April 8 this year, Xu Jian’en informed his former colleagues in Takeda Oncology that his eyesight had recovered well, that he had returned to work in Shanghai, and that he had assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at ADCT (Linglu).

As previously mentioned, oncology is one of Takeda’s global strategic priorities. In the Chinese market, Takeda offers multiple innovative oncology products, such as Enantone, Ninlaro, and Adcetris. Moreover, more innovative anti-tumor drugs are slated for launch in China in the near future, enabling continuous business expansion and penetration across multiple therapeutic areas, including prostate cancer and breast cancer. Following the departure of Xu Jian’en, Takeda China established Solid Tumor Business Unit 1 within its Oncology Business Unit (OBU) effective April 1, appointing Pan Haifeng, former Marketing Director for Enantone, as the head. This appointment aims to sustain the growth of Takeda’s current product portfolio in the Chinese market. Such swift personnel adjustments underscore Takeda China’s strong commitment to its oncology business.