Astellas Opens New Regional Affiliate Office for Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa in Dubai

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is an important territory for Astellas, contributing around one quarter of the company's global profit and sales. The new MENA/SSA affiliate will serve as a management hub and platform to expand and develop business activities in countries across the area. The step signals the company's commitment to the MENA/SSA region, with plans for sustained investment across different aspects of the business.

"Astellas' work in the Middle East and Africa has been growing steadily over the last decade, but this is a key moment for us," commented Ken Jones, President and CEO of Astellas EMEA. "We have built the critical mass needed to establish a regional base, which in turn will help us to further expand our operations so that we can support even more patients in the region. As well as establishing new local country organisations, we are also exploring how we can develop our clinical trials programme in the region."

The new MENA/SSA affiliate will be lead by General Manager, Markus Weber. "The UAE was the natural choice for our regional affiliate office because of its unparalleled infrastructure and the huge pool of talent from across the territory," he said. "We have already established a team of highly skilled people, with local knowledge and long-standing professional experience in the region and plan to develop and expand our workforce as our business grows."

One of the first priorities for the Astellas MENA/SSA team will be to ensure more patients in the region can access the company's growing portfolio of innovative cancer treatments. Astellas is a global leader in the fields of urology and organ transplantation and has stated its aim to become a worldwide leader in the area of oncology. Mr Yoshihiko Hatanaka, President and CEO of Astellas Pharma Inc., Global Head Quarters said, "Over the last few years we have built a specialist oncology research and development network, and established relationships with key organisations at the forefront of cancer research to help us develop a new portfolio of effective cancer treatments. Our sustained financial success and strong sales growth means that we can invest heavily in cutting-edge research and development, supporting the patients and doctors we serve by producing innovative new medicines in areas like oncology where there is a vital need for improved treatments."

Astellas is a fast-growing company, with a 16% increase in sales and 11% rise in operating profit in fiscal year 2013.^[1] Astellas rigorously prioritises innovation to discover and develop medicines that are first in their class and/or best in their class, providing new standards of care for patients and their doctors. The company is committed to improving the availability of its medicines to people living in the Middle East and Africa and already has a well established affiliate office in Johannesburg, South Africa. Investments over the next three years will focus primarily on expanding and developing individual country organisations, with long-term strategies driving a move towards sophisticated clinical research across the territory.

About Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. 

Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. operates in 40 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is the EMEA regional business of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceuticals. The organisation's focus is to deliver outstanding R&D and marketing to continue growing in the world pharmaceutical market. Astellas presence in Europe also includes an R&D site and three manufacturing plants. The company employs over 4,500 people across the EMEA region. In 2013 Astellas was awarded SCRIP Pharmaceutical Company of the Year in recognition of its commercial success and pipeline development.

References

1. http://www.astellas.com/en/ir/library/pdf/4q2014_pre_en.pdf. Last accessed 14.11.14

November 2014

APEL/14/0057/EU