Astellas, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda Agree to Collaborate to Reduce Environmental Burden in the Field of Pharmaceutical Packaging

TOKYO and OSAKA, Japan, Dec. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, "Astellas"), Eisai Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4523, CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai"), Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (TSE: 4568, President : Sunao Manabe, "Daiichi Sankyo") and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. (TSE: 4502 /NYSE:TAK, President and CEO Christophe Weber, "Takeda") today announced that the four companies have agreed the collaboration to reduce environmental burden in the field of pharmaceutical packaging.

Based on the agreement, the four companies will aim to promote the use of more environmentaly friendly packaging for pharmaceutical products by sharing knowledge on packaging technologies to reduce environmental burden, such as blister packs made of biomass-based plastic instead of petroleum-derived plastic, compact packaging, recycled packaging materials, and recyclable packaging materials.

Astellas, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, and Takeda aim to ensure that society benefits from this collaboration to harmonize corporate activities with the global environment. In the future, the four companies expect to expand this collaboration beyond the four companies by calling on other companies in order to reduce further environmental burden.

• Initiatives for Sustainability (Environment) of Each Company

Astellas has set "Deepen our engagement in sustainability" as one of the strategic goals in its Corporate Strategic Plan 2021. The reduction of environmental burden is one of Astellas' priority themes within sustainability. For more information on specific initiatives, please visit our website. 

Eisai established the "Eisai Environmental Management Vision" this fiscal year, and in addition to climate change countermeasures aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by fiscal 2040, Eisai has formed a medium- to long-term plan for environmental issues including efficient use of water and recycling of resources, and will work to further advance these efforts. To learn more about our environmental initiatives, please visit our website.

As a healthcare company with the Purpose "to contribute to the enrichment of quality of life around the world," Daiichi Sankyo considers global environmental conservation, which is the basis of life and livelihood, as a key management issue (Materiality) and promotes environmental management. For more information on specific initiatives, please visit our website.

At Takeda, "Purpose-led Sustainability" is about creating both business and societal value through its core business. Takeda continues to reduce our operational carbon footprint and are now committed to achieving net-zero GHG emissions for scopes 1 and 2 before 2035 and for Scope 3 before 2040. For more information, see our Annual Integrated Report.

About Astellas
Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+^® healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/en.

About Eisai
Eisai's Corporate Concept is "to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides." Under this Concept [also known as our human health care (hhc) Concept], we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology.

In addition, our continued commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is demonstrated by our work on various activities together with global partners.

For more information about Eisai, please visit www.eisai.com (for global headquarters: Eisai Co., Ltd.), and connect with us on Twitter @Eisai_SDGs

About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo is dedicated to creating new modalities and innovative medicines by leveraging our world-class science and technology for our purpose "to contribute to the enrichment of quality of life around the world." In addition to our current portfolio of medicines for cancer and cardiovascular disease, Daiichi Sankyo is primarily focused on developing novel therapies for people with cancer as well as other diseases with high unmet medical needs. With more than 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 16,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation to realize our 2030 Vision to become an "Innovative Global Healthcare Company Contributing to the Sustainable Development of Society." For more information, please visit www.daiichisankyo.com.

About Takeda
Takeda is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetic and Hematology, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). 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.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.