Ex-Takeda Pharmaceutical Head Hasegawa Dies at 80

Tokyo, Sept. 11 (Jiji Press)--Yasuchika Hasegawa, former president of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and former chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, or Keizai Doyukai, died at a Tokyo hospital July 3. He was 80.

Born in Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, he joined the major drugmaker in 1970 after graduating from Waseda University.

In 2003, Hasegawa took over the presidency from the late Kunio Takeda of the founding family, after heading the international pharmaceutical operations.

As president, he paved the way for the company to go global, spending 1 trillion yen to buy a Swiss pharmaceutical giant and inviting Christophe Weber to succeed him. Weber, the first foreign president of Takeda Pharmaceutical, left the post in June this year.

Hasegawa chaired Doyukai for four years from 2011, when he was president of his company. He also served as a private-sector member of the government's Industrial Competitiveness Council and an outside board member of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]