Takeda names new chief operating officer

Takeda has announced the appointment of Christophe Weber, currently of GlaxoSmithKline, as its next chief operating officer (COO).

Mr Weber will leave his role as president and general manager at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines to take over as COO of Takeda in April 2014, while he has also been chosen as a candidate to be the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.

He is expected to become president and representative director for Takeda following the firm's ordinary general meeting of shareholders and board of directors meeting at the end of June 2014.

This conference is also set to see Takeda's president and CEO Yasuchika Hasegawa being named chairman and CEO of the company.

Mr Hasegawa said: "We have extremely high expectations for Mr Weber's contributions to further enhance and accelerate the implementation of Takeda's global strategy."

This comes after the firm appointed Francois-Xavier Roger as its new chief financial officer in September 2013.