Takeda's Thai unit to cover Indochina
Reaping the benefits of the successful management of its Thai subsidiary, Japan's largest drug firm Takeda Pharmaceutical has extended the responsibility for its Thailand unit to cover other Indochina companies.
As a result, the market size of businesses under the care of Takeda (Thailand) has been doubled, said its president Peter Huang.
“This reflects the success of Thailand operations,” he said.
The Thailand team has been tasked with launching Takeda’s business in Vietnam, which is considered an important market for pharmaceutical companies because of its population and fast-growing market.
Takeda (Thailand) is also launching its business in Myanmar.
The Thai subsidiary has also been tasked with taking care of the Laos and Cambodia markets, but how fast it makes a market assault in those countries depends on “how quick we can get the Vietnam and Myanmar [businesses] going”, Huang said.
The Vietnam market had earlier been handled by DKSH, which is still a distributor of Takeda products in many Asean countries including its over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in Thailand.
Speaking exclusively to The Nation, Huang said Takeda (Thailand) had achieved high-single-digit growth over the past three years. And last year, when the sales of other top-10 players in the Thai pharmaceutical market were either suffering or stable, Takeda had moved from 10th to ninth spot.
“Among the top 10, we’re the most consistently growing,” he said. “During the last two years, a lot of companies have had to take some cost-cutting measures. We are fortunate that we can even add staff.”
At present, Takeda (Thailand) has about 200 employees plus some 40-50 sales staff handled by DKSH who take care of OTC and one of Takeda’s proton-pump inhibitor products.
In Thailand, Takeda’s core business comprises ethical medicines and OTC products. Takeda is recognised as the leader in cardiovascular, metabolic and gastroenterology healthcare solutions.
Catering for today’s faster, more stressful lifestyles, Takeda is taking a major step by increasing its presence in its OTC products here, in the form of vitamins and supplements. The company recently introduced new packaging for its vitamin C products in a bid to tap the higher-end market and is planning to launch a new vitamin B product this year.
To cope with new-consumer preferences, Takeda has introduced a range of new products, to cater to a wider group of consumers, instead of having a single product for one kind of medicine.
In the Thai market, the firm has launched four products and one fixed dose over the past three years. Between now and the end of 2017, it expects to launch another six products
