Takeda Announces Establishment of China Innovation Center in Chengdu to Accelerate Digital Healthcare Strategy

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry Dynamics】At present, China has become the world's largest pharmaceutical market. As the Chinese pharmaceutical market continues to grow, many multinational pharmaceutical companies are also actively entering the Chinese market. They are either strengthening cooperation with local partners or capturing China's "large market" with innovative drugs.
 

Recently, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited signed an investment cooperation agreement with the Management Committee of Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone to establish the Takeda China Innovation Center (TCIC) in Chengdu, deepening the value chain layout in the Chinese market.
 

It is reported that the center will utilize advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to strengthen the digital innovation capability construction of Takeda China. Meanwhile, the TCIC will also actively develop digital healthcare products and solutions. According to the agreement, both parties will collaborate with local and global partners to build a digital healthcare innovation community, promoting the scaling and commercialization of digital healthcare innovation achievements.
 

Data shows that Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited entered China in 1994, and its production plant officially settled in Tianjin the same year. After more than 30 years of deep cultivation in China, Takeda Pharmaceutical has continuously upgraded its development strategy in the Chinese market, increased investment, and built a complete pharmaceutical value chain layout encompassing new drug development, production, medicine supply assurance, and commercial operation.
 

Reviewing 2024, multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, Bayer, and Medtronic have successively announced new R&D and innovation projects, establishing physical R&D institutions in China. For instance, Eli Lilly has set up the China Medical Innovation Center to support global drug synchronization in R&D and registration review, focusing on diseases like Alzheimer's and diabetes, accelerating the development of breakthrough innovative therapies. Additionally, it will establish the first innovation incubator outside the United States in Beijing.
 

Bayer HealthCare Consumer Products China Innovation Cooperation Center (hereinafter referred to as CCIP) was unveiled at the Shanghai Biomedical Frontier Industry Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Frontier") located in Zhangjiang, Pudong. As one of Bayer HealthCare's global strategic innovation bases, CCIP is expected to invest approximately 20 million euros, which will help the company explore more self-care solutions suitable for Chinese consumers.
 

Medtronic will establish a digital service innovation base in China, dedicated to developing treatment solutions for cardiovascular diseases based on artificial intelligence and big data...
 

It is reported that recently, many multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Roche, and Boehringer Ingelheim, have reached cooperation with local Chinese enterprises. For example, in January 2025, Innovent Biologics reached an exclusive global licensing agreement with Roche to advance the development of IBI3009, a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate targeting delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3), aiming to provide a new treatment option for patients with advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
 

Moreover, since entering 2025, multinational pharmaceutical companies have been accelerating the submission of new drug marketing applications in China. For instance, in January, Boehringer Ingelheim announced that it had submitted a marketing authorization application for its investigational lung cancer innovative drug, zongertinib, to the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration, which has been accepted.
 

According to reports, this new drug application is mainly based on the results of the Phase Ib clinical study BEAMION LUNG-1 trial, for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying HER2 (ERBB2) activating mutations who have previously received systemic therapy.
 

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