Takeda Pharmaceutical will consolidate its Vaccine Business Unit (VBU) operations by establishing global and regional hubs as the organization continues to grow and advance its important vaccine programs in norovirus, dengue and seasonal influenza.

The Boston/Cambridge, Mass. area, and Zurich, Switzerland, will serve as VBU’s global hubs for the vaccine business outside of Japan. VBU will maintain regional hubs in Singapore and in Brazil and will operate manufacturing sites in Hikari, Japan; Durham, N.C., and Singen, Germany.

In the U.S., all vaccine activities, with the exception of manufacturing, will move to the new global hub in the Boston/Cambridge area. This co-location will significantly enhance communication and collaboration across VBU’s divisions, and will allow VBU to leverage Takeda’s R&D presence in Cambridge. It also will provide access to the area’s biotech/pharmaceutical ecosystem and talent base.

Takeda will close its vaccine site in Bozeman, Mont., which it obtained through the acquisition of LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals in 2012, as well as the Madison, Wis., and Fort Collins, Colo., sites, which came to Takeda through the acquisition of Inviragen in 2013. In addition, vaccine activities in Deerfield, Ill., which currently is the global headquarters for VBU, will shift to the Boston/Cambridge area. This transition will occur in phases over the next two years, with the completion of U.S. consolidation by mid-2017.

“Takeda remains fully committed to the development of innovative vaccines that improve the lives of people around the world, including our norovirus, dengue and seasonal influenza candidate vaccines,” said Rajeev Venkayya, M.D., president, Takeda’s VBU. “Our sites in Bozeman, Fort Collins, Madison and Deerfield have been instrumental in bringing our dengue and norovirus programs to late stages of clinical development. This consolidation will help us to achieve the efficiency and operational excellence needed to execute the phase III clinical programs and set the stage for global commercialization of these vaccines.”