Frank Morich and Haruhiko Hirate join Takeda

Takeda has made new two appointments, looking outside the company to fill a brace of executive-level positions.

Dr Frank Morich joins from NOXXON Pharma and will start in October as executive vice president of international operations, succeeding Alan MacKenzie who is retiring from Takeda after 25 years with the company.

Dr Morich previously spent 22 years at Bayer, rising to be chairman of the board of management for Bayer Healthcare, before moving in 2004 to AM Pharma as chief executive and again in 2008 to NOXXON Pharma, where he held the same role.

Meanwhile, Haruhiko Hirate joins Takeda from GlaxoSmithKline’s Japanese subsidiary, where he was senior managing director and representative manager.

Prior to this he held senior positions at Roche Diagnostics KK and Banyu Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd.

“I am very much pleased to welcome to Takeda Dr Morich and Mr Hirate, who both have vast pharmaceutical expertise and experience,” said Yasuchika Hasegawa, president and chief executive of Takeda.

“I believe Dr Morich and Mr Hirate will contribute a lot to our company so that we can realise a transformation to a New Takeda during the period of our 2010 to 2012 mid-range plan. Implementing a novel strategic approach is indispensable for Takeda to achieve long-term, sustainable growth.”