Inside the ecosystem of the plasma therapy of Takeda

Takeda’s (NYSE: TAK) (TSE: 4502) Plasma -leaked therapy business (PDT), led by Giles Platford, President of the Business Unit of Plasma Takeda and President of Protein Association Executive Board I Directors, Takes Complex Logistical and Economic Challenges, collecting about 15 million liters of blood plasma each year from millions of donations and turning them into medicines.

The PDT industry includes other major players such as CSL Behring, a divided CSL (ASX: CSL), and Grifols (Nasdaq: GRFS) also working to meet the growing demand for these life rescue treatments. In 2024, the Global PDT market was estimated between $ 21.54 billion and $ 28.12 billion, depending on the source, and is projected to reach between $ 43.91 billion and $ 46.7 billion by 2031, increasing with a growth compound rate ( Cagr) of about 6.3% to 7.1%. The industry relies heavily on the plasma stemming from a small part of the countries, especially the US, creating weaknesses of the supply chain that Takeda seeks to mitigate through policies, advocacy and diversification efforts. Looking forward, Takeda aims to expand the availability of plasma, reduce the complexity and improve the global access of patients to its life -saving treatments. Addressing these challenges is critical, as the DPT remains a significant portion of the Takeda business, accounting for 21% of the company’s total revenue in 2023 – near $ 5.98 billion from its total $ 28.16 billion.

Feiger: Let’s start with a compilation of the highest level of plasma -derived therapies. What goes to developing a plasma leaked therapy?

Platford: I have to start with the basics. Plasma is a yellow-ancient juice that comprises about 50% of blood and has some vital functions, such as fighting the disease and blood clotting. It is a little source sourced only from healthy human donors mainly through a process called plasmaffer: blood is obtained from the donor, the plasma is extracted and the rest of the blood returns. This enables plasma donors to donate more often than donating blood.

From that plasma we extract, or fractionation, different proteins and develop them in medication often to replace various defective proteins in patients suffering from rare and complex, chronic diseases. Very often these patients do not have alternative treatments at their disposal, and requires plenty of plasma to treat them. Typically, up from 130 donations per year to maintain only a patient’s treatment for a disease such as primary immunity, nearly one thousand for a disease such as a lack of alpha-1 antitrips.

After the fraction, you go through a cleaning process and viral passion. Everyone told him that it can take between 9 and 12 months from the donation of the plasma until the distribution of a therapeutic, and is a very human-capital intensive process. Only Takeda collects more than 15 million liters of plasma per year. We have 20,000 people working in our value chain.

Feiger: What are the Takinga doing to ensure that the stakeholders of health care really understand the importance of the plasma collection process?

Platford: A lot of work goes to advocate and policy formation, because only a small proportion of countries have created plasma infrastructure needed to encourage the donation of the source plasma. There are the four countries in Europe: Germany, Hungary, Czechekia and Austria. These five countries represent about 90% of the plasma in the world, and the US represents 70% of the entire global plasma. This, honestly, is an unfair dependence on some countries to contribute to the global plasma supply.

So working with patient groups to protect the proper policy change and a legislative regulatory environment that enables countries to contribute to global supply is important.

Feiger: What are the critical obstacles in the process to bring plasma leaked therapies to patients? What strategies or technologies have Takeda included to promote efficiency?

Platford: One of the things that is quite unique about the plasma industry is how intensely we work with a wide range of stakeholders. Usually, biofarma works with patients and doctors and health care providers; In our industry, we are engaging with the general public in large numbers through our efforts to provide the donated plasma. We have more than 270 plasma donation centers around the US and Europe, and we have millions of donors coming to our doors. So we are collecting a large amount of data – in a responsible way, of course – we can use to improve donor experience. We are using it to be done much better in predicting how, for example, the average donor will respond to different movements in macroeconomic indicators, and what it means to ensure that we have continuing supply of supply what is a little resource.

Feiger: Let’s talk about what I will call ‘supply chain resistance’. How do you make sure that Takeda maintains durability between such a complex and long production process?

Platford: The rate of operations is surprising to anyone who visits one of our eight places of plasma production around the world. We invest a lot in improving the process, because in the process of fractionation yield is very important. So the question is how much protein we are able to extract from each liter the plasma we collect through the fraction process? By shaking the process, we have been able to improve yield by 10 percent between 2019 and 2023. This is great.

There are things we are doing about data and technology to automate processes that have usually been very intense human-capital, such as quality control. Typically, you will have human eyes that value each vial for particles, but now you can fill it using technology and it. You can train him on a very high level of accuracy to make automated visual inspection. You can use technology to reduce circulation time between the flocks.

Feiger: There will always be interruptions of some kind, with its pandemia and its supply chain issues as a last example. How do you do plasma therapy operations of future evidence to protect against those outages?

Platford: One of the things we have reflected is how to diversify the sources of plasma supply.

The industry is globally dependent on plasma sourced from JB, and I think we should all be uncomfortable with this. The good news is, since the pandemia, we have seen more interest from governments in the sovereignty of the supply chain-in vaccines, in plasma-leaked therapies and other critical areas where supplies can be scarce.

For a while, we will reach a place where more countries are doing their share. This does not always mean the private sector that collects plasma; There are many different ways to achieve self-sufficiency through partnership and we are open to all roads.

Feiger: Previously in the conversation you affected the patient’s approach and advocacy. How do you involve patient advocacy groups to ensure that your therapies are meeting the needs of the patient in the real world?

Platford: So this is a topic very close to my heart – and, I would say, with the hearts of most people working in Takeda. We have a decision -making frame called Ptrb: patient, trust, reputation, business. Regardless of what we are dealing with, we always ask: (1) Is this good for the patient? (2) Will it strengthen confidence in the company? (3) Will it strengthen the reputation of Takeda and the wider industry? If you mark the first three boxes, it is likely that it will be good for long -term business growth.

We try to engage the patient as soon as possible in the process of research and development and determine what significant efficiency and last security points look like. I would also say that it is probably quite unique that we are trying to make the patient more involved with the plasma donor. We like to strengthen the donors the generosity of the gift they are giving and how it affects the lives of patients. Whether it is through posters or videos or learning sessions, we do everything we can to connect donors with patients so that they can understand what patients are going through and why their donation gift matters.

Feiger: What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities in plasma business over the next decade?

Platford: There are significant medical needs unfulfilled there, so the demand for plasma -derived therapy will continue to increase. Been has increased 10% and is likely to continue to increase due to improvements in the diagnosis for conditions such as primary immunodeficents, better standards of care and new therapeutic applications for existing proteins. So there is a lot of track for growth. But it will not be easy to meet those high unfilled needs and make sure to have a fair access to these treatments globally. So we have to ask ourselves, what can we do as an industry and a health care community to make sure that more countries are making their share to contribute to the global plasma supply?

While that plasma supply we hope to become less limited, it should reduce some of the cost of helping plasma technology is a great option. The more we can transmit our operations and direct efficiency and productivity, the more we can reduce costs and use savings to address the affordability and entry challenges.