Beyond The Pandemic, An Interview With Astellas’ Percival Barretto-Ko

04 Jan 2021

Astellas Pharma US accounts for roughly one-third of the parent company’s annual revenues with a growing focus on immuno-oncology. The unit’s president discusses lessons from the pandemic, racial disparities in health care and business development.

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Astellas Pharma, Inc., the multinational biopharma headquartered in Tokyo with multibillion-dollar operations in the US, was impacted by the same forces that buffeted many in the industry in 2020, including the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis delayed and, in some cases, halted ongoing projects at Astellas but it also offered new business opportunities and revealed novel ways to work and collaborate.

Astellas Pharma US Inc. President Percival Barretto-Ko oversees the company’s US operations from its base in Northbrook, IL. The pharma recorded global revenues of about $12bn in 2019, of which about $4.4bn was generated in the US, Barretto-Ko told Scrip. Created by the merger of Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd