Coming together to fight COVID-19: A conversation with Ramona Sequeira, President of Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A

On September 23, 2020, PhRMA President and CEO and BioscienceLA Board Member, Stephen Ubl, connected with Ramona Sequeira, President of Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A to discuss the company’s efforts to fight COVID-19.

In their discussion, Sequeira explains more about the plasma-derived therapy Takeda and other global plasma leaders are exploring to treat those fighting the virus.

“We are pooling and processing plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients – also known as ‘convalescent plasma’ – to develop a non-branded plasma-derived therapy known as a hyperimmune globulin (H-Ig) that contains consistently high levels of antibodies to the new coronavirus,” Sequeira explains. “What’s important to understand is that our process purifies the donated plasma to remove or inactivate any viruses and standardizes it, so it has a consistent level of virus-specific antibodies in each unit.  Because hyperimmune therapy has already been shown to be effective in treating severe viral respiratory infections, we believe it may have the potential to treat people at risk for serious complications from COVID-19.”

When asked about the COVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, Sequeira shares, “when faced with the unprecedented challenges presented by COVID-19, Takeda formed an Alliance of world-leading plasma companies. Takeda and members of the Alliance believe the plasma community has a special responsibility – and opportunity – to make a difference in the interest of global public health. Instead of pursuing individual projects, we have all set aside our company interests to work together.”

The Alliance includes 12 leading plasma companies,  including Takeda, all of whom have deep experience in discovering, developing, and producing plasma-derived therapies. The Alliance also includes global organizations from outside the plasma industry that are providing support to encourage more people to donate plasma. Together, Alliance members are working to accelerate the development of this potential medicine, improve our chances of success and increase the supply and availability of the potential medicine, if approved.

“Looking forward, we are optimistic that as the industry continues to work with regulators, academics and study sites, many of the new processes and technologies that are being adopted in response to COVID-19 will help Takeda move our medicines through the clinical trial process more quickly, allowing potential treatments to get to patients faster,” Sequeira said.

You can read the full interview here.