About

The Takeda legal team supports the multinational pharmaceutical company’s European and Canadian (EUCAN) business units as well as other Takeda global business units at various levels. Led by general counsel EUCAN Andrea Ferrari, the legal department comprises of 47 team members, with 29 based in Switzerland and 18 based in Canada or Takeda’s other major European affiliates. The legal team supports the business locally by assisting more than 30 local Takeda affiliates within their remit, either through in-house counsel based in the relevant jurisdictions or via the centralised support of the Zurich team. ‘We are business partners and our ultimate goal is supporting and caring about Takeda, so that Takeda can care about our patients’, says Ferrari. The team also support the business on a regional level by assisting the regional stakeholders based in Zurich, supporting the integrated franchise teams, pricing and market access, medical affairs, human resources as well as the EUCAN oncology organisation. As a functional support to specific business units, the team help in the areas of global manufacturing, corporate, business development and privacy by assisting on projects that have cross-regional scope in addition to providing legal shared services to clients based in other regions. Most notably, the team supported Takeda’s £46bn acquisition of Shire in 2019 as a purchasing entity and target company, and is currently assisting on the integration process. ‘The transformational acquisition of Shire has triggered substantial changes in the legal team which has now a broader remit in line with the more complex footprint of the new Takeda. The team is established in centres of excellence covering most of the disciplines. In parallel, local teams support the major affiliates in Canada and Europe’, explains Ferrari.