OSAKA, Japan & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TOKYO:4502/NYSE:TAK) (“Takeda”) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will announce today at the evening reception, hosted by the Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom, the establishment of the Takeda Chair in Global Child Health, endowed by a £3 million donation by Takeda to LSHTM. The School’s first fully endowed corporate chair, it will support vital research into reducing 5.3 million child deaths in low and middle-income countries.
Takeda’s donation will enable LSHTM to recruit a world-class researcher and educator to join its innovative academic team as the first holder of the Takeda Chair in Global Child Health. This post will play a critical role in consolidating LSHTM’s child health research across more than 100 countries, accelerating change for one of the biggest global health challenges, and further strengthening LSHTM’s position as a leader in maternal, child and adolescent health.
Christophe Weber, President and CEO of Takeda, stated, “Takeda’s aim is to thrive at the cutting edge of innovation that helps solve unmet medical needs, both through our own R&D and in collaboration with exceptional partners across the globe. We believe that global health research and the training of new global healthcare professionals are essential to the ongoing translation of science into life-changing therapies for patients. This Chair does both. We are excited to partner with LSHTM, renowned for its pioneering research and uniquely placed to realize the full potential impact of the Chair, and in doing so directly benefitting millions of children and their families.”
Through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, Takeda has supported health worker training and capacity building, immunization campaigns, health system strengthening and maternal, child and newborn health in the developing world for over a decade. Additionally, Takeda has a long history of supporting child health beyond CSR. For over 70 years, the company has supplied critical vaccines to the children of Japan, and more recently is working to expand impact on global health beyond Japan through a pipeline with the potential to transform the global picture for several neglected diseases.
More than five million children under the age of five die each year, half of whom die within the neonatal period (birth to one month old), with the next largest number being due to childhood infections such as pneumonia and diarrhea. While the vast majority of these deaths are preventable, key research gaps remain. The Takeda Chair in Global Child Health will enable a ‘rising star’ to bridge research, public policy, and healthcare delivery by developing thought leadership in child survival and health through innovative research, including vaccines, neonatal care, under-nutrition, and infection diagnostics and treatments.
Professor Baron Peter Piot, Director of LSHTM, stated, “We are honored to partner with Takeda to create this Professorial Chair, the first in our School’s history to have been fully endowed through corporate support. This donation is incredibly valuable, providing ongoing funding and support for a Professorial Chair in Global Child Health – a pivotal part of our continuing mission to improve health worldwide. We are deeply thankful to Takeda for their generosity as we work together to transform the health of future generations.”
Professor Joy Lawn, Director of LSHTM’s MARCH Centre (Maternal Adolescent, Reproductive & Child Health Centre), said, “The Takeda Chair will advance the evidence base for child survival and child health around the world, enable innovations and drive an important emphasis on the science and realities of healthcare implementation. This Chair will be instrumental in linking evidence to action, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where the majority of child deaths occur. We are grateful for Takeda’s generous support which will advance child health worldwide, and aligns with the mission of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and our school’s MARCH Centre.”
International recruitment for the Takeda Chair in Global Child Health will begin in May. Due to the perpetual nature of this endowment, this role will be awarded to generations of academics, enabling the best and brightest academic minds to have the freedom to explore innovative ways to improve global health.
About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TOKYO:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Gastroenterology (GI), Rare Diseases and Neuroscience. We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries and regions.
For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com
About the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health, with 4,500 students and more than 3,000 staff working in over 100 countries. LSHTM is one of the highest-rated research institutions in the UK, and among the world's leading schools in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice. For more information, visit www.lshtm.ac.uk and https://march.lshtm.ac.uk/
