TORONTO, CANADA, and OSAKA, JAPAN -- (Marketwire) -- 04/04/12 -- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) has joined the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) to fund collective drug research aimed at bringing new, more effective medicines to market faster. The SGC is based at the Universities of Toronto, Canada, and Oxford, England.

Takeda's contribution raises the total to $50 million in support of the SGC by six of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies engaged in drug discovery, bolstering this ground-breaking pre-competitive approach to drug research. The addition by Takeda represents a significant increase in industry funding from the previous four years when three drug makers provided $13 million in funds.

The new agreement with SGC, one of the largest ever public-private drug discovery partnerships, increases the profile of more than 200 scientists from academia and industry who make all early-stage research openly available with no patents or restrictions. The SGC's research network helps Takeda promote its drug discovery efforts by accessing new research first hand. The company also can influence the research direction of the SGC network by participating on the SGC Scientific Committee and its Board of Directors.

"This is a strong endorsement of a novel business model, which relies on collaboration to share the risks of early-stage research, and reduce costs of drug discovery so we can get effective new medicines to market faster, and into the hands of physicians and patients sooner," said Aled Edwards, the Canada-based Chief Executive, SGC.

"As a global leader in research, Takeda is dedicated to helping change the way drug discovery is conducted," said Paul Chapman, General Manager, Pharmaceutical Research Division, Takeda. "We are very excited about the opportunity to become a part of the SGC, and firmly believe that important new medicines will be discovered in industry and vital scientific knowledge will be gained in academia through this open innovation."

The SGC identifies and maps the three-dimensional structure of human proteins, which are the targets for drug discovery. Learning about the precise structure of human proteins provides important clues to discover new drugs.

About The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)

Located at the Universities of Toronto and Oxford, the not-for-profit organization supports the discovery of new medicines by carrying open access research in structural and chemical biology. More than 200 researchers in academia and in six pharmaceutical companies collaborate within SGC to accomplish these goals. The SGC is also funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, CFI, Genome Canada, the Ontario's MEDI, and the Wellcome Trust. More information is available at www.thesgc.org

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Located in Osaka, Japan, Takeda is a research-based global company with its main focus on pharmaceuticals. As the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan and one of the global leaders of the industry, Takeda is committed to strive towards better health for patients worldwide through leading innovation in medicine. Additional information about Takeda is available through its corporate website, www.takeda.com