Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., one of the world's largest and oldest drug companies, has acquired a large biotech plant in Brooklyn Park with the intention of manufacturing the recently approved digestive-tract drug Entyvio there.
The 215,000-square-foot building at 9450 Winnetka Ave. N. has been host to a number of health care manufacturers in recent years, including Baxter International and Genmab.
Japan-based Takeda's U.S. subsidiary, Takeda Pharmaceuticals America in Deerfield, Ill., did not release the transaction price or any details of the deal.
A spokeswoman for Takeda said the company has offered employment to 42 employees at the plant who used to work for its former owner, the Baxter spinoff company Baxalta.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced the sale, saying the Brooklyn Park location will be Takeda's first manufacturing plant in the United States. "It's a major Japanese pharmaceutical company, so we are pretty excited to have them come into Minnesota," department spokesman Monte Hanson said.
Takeda was ranked by GlobalData as the world's 10th-largest drugmaker by sales in 2014, with about $20 billion in sales of pharmaceuticals for cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes and other conditions. The company was founded in 1781 in Osaka, and today describes itself as a research-based pharma company with a "robust" pipeline of potential drugs for immunology, oncology and other medical fields.
Entyvio is an injectable biologic drug used to treat the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, which affects about 620,000 Americans, and Crohn's disease, which affects half a million people in the U.S. Both conditions can cause chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and other side effects. The Food and Drug Administration approved U.S. prescription sales in 2014.
Minnesota officials said Takeda's purchase of the biotech plant gives it the capability to manufacture other commercial and investigational drugs still under development.
Brooklyn Park Mayor Jeffrey Lunde said in a news release that the city was excited to welcome Takeda to the growing business corridor along Hwy. 610. "Takeda fits into Brooklyn Park's strategy to attract and retain high-quality jobs," he said in the release.
Hanson said Takeda officials have discussed the possibility of applying for up to $2 million in economic development subsidies through the state, but that no formal application has been submitted. Such funds would generally be tied to promises of job creation or local investments.
Previous owner Baxter had been eligible to receive $5 million in subsidies on the property, but the money was never provided because the company didn't go ahead with its planned investment for the building, Hanson said.
Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779
Twitter: @_JoeCarlson
