Confident Investment Decisions...
Accelerated Strategic Growth

Takeda Research Investment, Inc. (TRI)

“GLG provides access to extraordinary experts to help us round out evaluations and reach conclusions about our potential investments. The unbiased information and analysis we've gleaned through utilization of the GLG platform has helped us make more confident investment decisions and provide strategic recommendations to Takeda.”

Graeme Martin,
President and CEO, Takeda Research Investment, Inc.

For Graeme Martin and his team, building “a global roadmap for better health” is more than a company tagline. It is a critical mission.

Martin heads Takeda Research Investment, Inc. (TRI), the corporate venture arm of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. Takeda is the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan and markets products throughout 90 countries. TRI's mission is to identify, create, and support the development of therapeutic innovation worldwide through early-stage investment—an initiative critical to Takeda's overall growth.

In Search of Innovation

TRI's portfolio includes drugs and biotherapeutics to treat cancer, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, and diseases of the central nervous system. Martin and his team continuously seek out new investment opportunities in products, technologies, and firms that will bring efficiencies and global growth opportunities to Takeda. However, there is another critical component to TRI's work: the team must uncover early market indicators, emerging healthcare trends, and industry best practices to help Takeda augment its product pipeline and compete globally.

“We are measured principally on the strategic returns we deliver and the overall competitive advantage we bring to Takeda,” says Martin.

On the path to reaching these goals, TRI faces its share of hurdles. Though the team has significant pharmaceutical experience—from early discovery research and clinical development through product lifecycle management, business development, and licensing—Martin knew TRI would benefit from working with additional experts, particularly around opportunities in adjacent markets where the team has limited expertise.

Martin and his team must also cover a lot of ground; they are responsible for identifying strategic investments across North America, Europe, and Australasia. To help tackle these challenges in an efficient and cost-effective way, TRI turned to Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG).

The World's Marketplace for Expertise

GLG provides technology and services to support a marketplace for expertise and manages the world's leading expert network, helping more than 850 client companies find, engage, and manage^SM experts. When clients need to deepen their understanding of a company, an industry, or a market, they turn to GLG for relevant, hard-to-find, authoritative experts from the GLG Councils^SM—a network of more than 200,000 experts worldwide.

“GLG provides access to extraordinary experts to help us round out evaluations and reach conclusions about our potential investments,” says Martin. “The unbiased information and analysis we've gleaned through utilization of the GLG platform has helped us make more confident investment decisions and stronger strategic recommendations to Takeda.”

TRI and GLG: Improving ROI

Martin and his team recently engaged in telephone consultations with GLG Council Members to help evaluate a potential investment. Not only did the GLG experts' insights validate TRI's position on the target, one Council Member introduced TRI to a new innovation that they had not previously considered. In another instance, TRI tapped GLG to arrange a panel of Council Members to assess a potential target in an unfamiliar area for the team. The goal: to expedite TRI's ability to decide and act on what could be a breakthrough opportunity.

“GLG increases our access to a vast universe of professional, highly qualified experts I have yet to find anywhere else,” says Martin. “We can perform our diligence activities far more efficiently because GLG helps us pinpoint the individuals with the insights we need, saving us the valuable time it takes to find and engage the world's best experts.”

Information with Precision—and Speed

Every decision on TRI's table is a critical one, and time is always of the essence. Martin and his team often relied on their internal networks and public information to inform decisions around investment opportunities. But, according to Martin, GLG offers valuable, customized information, fast, that goes far beyond the capabilities of a personal Rolodex® or Internet searches.

“I could conduct an online search, but I would have to sift through thousands of results—likely never finding the exact information I seek,” says Martin. “The GLG solution provides a superior return on our time investment; Council Members provide direct, detailed answers to my specific questions. I have been very impressed with the quality of the Council Members GLG provides, as well as the customized information they deliver with exceptional speed.”

One enabling factor is the strength of GLG's systems. GLG stores detailed information from its 200,000 Council Members in its proprietary database. In addition, GLG asks hundreds of thousands of profile questions to learn more about the precise expertise and potential conflicts of Council Members. GLG systematically stores this information and tracks repeat usage of all experts in its systems. This data uniquely positions GLG to help its clients engage the best expert match.

Staying Ahead of the Curve

TRI works diligently to ensure that Japan-based Takeda is aware of important industry developments and emerging healthcare trends in every corner of the world—and that the discovery phase of Takeda's activities incorporates best practices from around the globe. At times, Martin and his team also have the important job of taking the firm where it has never gone before—in the interest of global innovation.

“One challenge we face is making investments in sectors where we do not have an immediate presence or strategic need,” says Martin. “But the tide can change quickly, and we need to be one step ahead. The GLG expert network can play a critical role in helping us identify, evaluate, and recommend the opportunities that may fall out of the firm's current portfolio and market presence but may be highly strategic in the future—so we need to be there now.”

Setting New Standards

TRI helped establish client best practices with the help of GLG services, by developing a way to increase the efficiency of their phone consultations with Council Members. The team at TRI provides a brief outline of their question to Council Members in advance of a phone call, allowing Council Members to anticipate TRI's questions and encouraging a more informed consultation. Martin's team also designed a format for carefully capturing each expert's insights and analysis, bringing added value.

“Our internal investment proposals attract more attention from Takeda when we are better informed by the third-party insights we've obtained from the GLG Council Members,” says Martin. “We are able to draft more credible, higher-quality proposals, which are far more likely to resonate with management.”

The ability to effect such change is critical as TRI works to bring innovative products and technologies to Takeda and to society as a whole—building a global roadmap for better health.

“Our internal investment proposals attract more attention from Takeda when we are better informed by the third-party insights we've obtained from the GLG Council Members,” says Martin. “We are able to draft more credible, higher-quality proposals, which are far more likely to resonate with management.”

Graeme Martin,
President and CEO, Takeda Research Investment, Inc.