Takeda Pharmaceutical Company has unveiled a new research centre in San Diego, California, US.

Employing more than 250 people, the 165,000ft² facility focuses on drug discovery research across gastroenterology (GI) and neuroscience. It houses research platform groups across structural and computational biology, early target discovery and biologics for the advancement of potential molecules.

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The Japanese drugmaker expects that the facility will supplement its research and development (R&D) centres in Massachusetts, US, and Shonan, Japan.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Research head Steve Hitchcock said: “Our San Diego research centre demonstrates an ideal balance between highly specialised internal research competencies and dedication to external partnerships both within the local community and on a global scale.

“Our San Diego research centre demonstrates an ideal balance between highly specialised internal research competencies and dedication to external partnerships.”

“By consulting with and leveraging our relationships with academic and industry partners and patient groups, we are able to operate nimbly and efficiently to advance early discovery research that could potentially translate into transformative, life-changing therapies for patients in need, complementing our efforts in our other global research centres in Cambridge and Shonan.”

Takeda expects the San Diego facility to help connect local collaborators with its global network of more than 200 research partners.

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The company carries out R&D in oncology, GI, neuroscience and rare diseases, alongside targeted investments committed for plasma-derived therapies (PDT) and vaccines. More than half of the company’s current research pipeline focuses on non-small molecules such as biologics, peptides, oligonucleotides, cell and gene therapy, the microbiome and other modalities.

The new centre is intended to support the future research of Takeda’s pipeline.

Earlier this year, Takeda completed an acquisition of Shire and became one of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world.

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