Takeda and Daiichi Sankyo both get Japanese government grants for vaccine facilities

Japan’s largest drug company Takeda Pharmaceuticals (TYO: 4502) and fellow major Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) have both received financial support from the government for their respective influenza vaccine facilities.

Daiichi Sankyo received a grant of 29.96 billion yen ($393 million) for the construction of new advanced production facilities for H1N1 vaccine at its Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo vaccine company. The grant is a part of the second initiative for a rapid response in production in the event of an infectious outbreak.

For its part, Takeda received a subsidy of 23.9 billion yen from the Japanese government for the development of advanced commercial production facilities for influenza vaccines at its Hikari plant. The financial impact of this subsidy has been incorporated in the fiscal year 2012 outlook of its 2011-2013 mid-range plan; therefore no impact is expected on its FY 2011 outlook, the company noted.