The pharmaceutical laboratory of the future is being built in Seestadt

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The Japanese company Takeda is building a state-of-the-art laboratory,
in which production processes for new medicines are developed.

The construction progress is unmistakable: Takeda is investing a three-digit million sum in the new building of the "Laboratory of the Future" in Seestadt Aspern. The groundbreaking ceremony for the environmentally friendly building took place in autumn 2023, and the new research and development facility is scheduled to start operations in 2026. This means that Austria is playing a pioneering role when it comes to the design of laboratories. In conversation: Manfred Rieger, Managing Director and Site Manager of Takeda's Research and Development Division in Austria.

What does a 'laboratory of the future' look like?
Manfred Rieger: The concept of the 'Laboratory of the Future' reflects the changes in our working environments in various areas. It is about increasing efficiency, improving collaboration and intensifying cooperation. A central theme is digitalization, including robotics and automation. It is about how we use data to make development processes faster and more efficient. We are pursuing the so-called ballroom concept, in which there are only a few fixed partition walls or modular laboratory partition walls and almost all laboratory supplies come from the ceiling. This keeps the laboratory flexible so that walls can be moved and rooms can be adapted to the respective project requirements.

Are additional safety measures necessary when everything happens in a large laboratory? Do employees walk around in hazardous suits, like you see in the movies?
Rieger: Highly secure laboratory units in which researchers work in special protective suits are very rare in Austria. Takeda operates such a laboratory, but not in Seestadt. Of course, there are access controls and the need to change clothes, which is common in any laboratory. Access to the new laboratory is via a lock. In this open, flexible laboratory space, the usual safety and hygiene regulations for R&D laboratories are observed.

Will the new laboratory be increasingly geared towards the use of digitalization and AI?
Rieger: Digitalization and artificial intelligence are essential topics that we are increasingly focusing on. When developing new drugs, a lot of data is generated that needs to be processed so that it can be used efficiently.
For AI systems, this data is the foundation for recognizing patterns, drawing conclusions and making predictions. This makes development processes more effective, faster and more resource-efficient. Collecting data helps to carry out some of the experiments using computer simulations (in silico) in order to gain insights more quickly and in a more resource-efficient manner. Promising simulation candidates are then confirmed in 'real' experiments and the data in turn flows into improved simulations. All of these technologies, together with automation and robotics, will play an important role in the new building.

Do you build the entire IT architecture yourself or is it outsourced to a data center?
Rieger: The entire infrastructure is operated by Takeda. Global teams are already working on the design of the building, and there will be a dedicated on-site data center in the basement of our future building. There is global cybersecurity, and IT is set up and implemented according to Takeda's own standards. Of course, there are also collaborations, as we cannot plan everything ourselves.

Why did you choose Seestadt Aspern as your location?

Rieger: The choice of location was an extensive process. A building of this size is hopefully only built once in a generation and for use over several decades. The question was where we would build the 'Laboratory of the Future', as we call the new building. We evaluated various locations in terms of the availability of public transport, schools, kindergartens, leisure facilities and attractiveness for international talent. Seestadt Aspern met these criteria best.

Should employees also settle in Seestadt privately and do you encourage this?
Rieger: This could become an issue over time, as there are several school complexes in Seestadt, which offer educational facilities
from kindergarten to high school graduation. There is also a subway connection, and this district is developing rapidly, also in terms of housing options.

The aim is to work on new, innovative therapies for diseases for which there have previously been no or only inadequate treatment options. What are the main focuses?
Rieger: We focus on the recombinant production of biologics that can be used in various therapeutic areas, from gastroenterology and oncology to rare diseases and neuroscience. Our focus is on complex proteins and proteins that are linked to additional substances to increase their effectiveness. In addition, existing products are supported with the existing expertise in order to further improve Takeda products on the market.

How far will the research in Seestadt go? Up to clinical trials in Austria?
Rieger: We usually receive product candidates from research and begin to define a development process in order to convert it into a commercial product. We start on a milliliter scale and scale up to hundreds of liters to produce the product. This is not just about pure process development, but also about supporting the analytics, defining the quality requirements and managing the regulatory requirements. All of this can be supported by our Austrian organization in the new building. Another department is responsible for conducting clinical trials.

Numerous start-ups from related industries have settled in Seestadt. Are you in contact with your neighbors and could a collaboration even arise?

Rieger: We know our neighbors, of course, and there are some interactions. We basically want to open up to the neighborhood and start-ups, as well as universities and other pharmaceutical companies. Especially in research and development, it is common practice at Takeda to form partnerships and drive forward joint projects. Our homepage lists more than 200 collaborations that Takeda is conducting globally.

Takeda is considered – as it says on its website – to be a 'pioneer in sustainable and responsible pharmaceutical products'. What does that mean?
Rieger: Innovation and sustainability are key issues. It's about producing environmentally friendly and sustainable medicines, avoiding CO2 emissions and using alternative energy sources. Takeda aims to no longer produce greenhouse gas emissions at any of its locations by 2035 and across the entire value chain by 2040. In Seestadt in particular, we have the opportunity to do this through the Total Quality Education certification process (TQB, the ÖGNB's seal of quality, evaluates different uses of buildings and checks them comprehensively for sustainability, note). In the new building in Seestadt, we will not use fossil fuels, but electricity from 100 percent hydropower and/or renewable energy, as well as photovoltaics and geothermal energy. We will also recover energy internally, which we can use for heating or cooling, and use rainwater to irrigate our gardens and terraces. Initial calculations show that we can save more than 400 tons of CO2 by phasing out natural gas. That corresponds to just over 100 households that use natural gas. These topics are important because research and development requires more energy and water than one would expect.

To what extent will the new R&D facility cooperate with universities and technical colleges, and where will you recruit your specialist staff?
Rieger: Basically, we are interested in working with universities and technical colleges, and there are already initiatives in this direction. In the new building, we are trying to make room for this, and part of the building is designed for conferences and seminars. We cooperate a lot with LISA Vienna (LifeScience Austria, ed.) in organizing Research & Development in Focus Days, where we invite start-ups to present their concepts in order to get industry feedback from our Takeda experts. We will also provide a demo laboratory in the new building that universities and start-ups can use. When it comes to recruitment, we are of course active both locally and internationally. However, we know that the training at universities and technical colleges in Austria is very good, and around 80 to 90 percent of our employees have received training in Austria. Within Takeda, there are also so-called secondment programs, in which employees from Japan and the USA can work in our Vienna laboratories for two to three years and then return to their original positions. The same applies to our Viennese colleagues who want to gain experience in the USA or Japan. This is about exchanging knowledge and getting to know the different organizational units in the different countries.

Does the fact that Vienna is considered the most livable city in the world help international employees?
Rieger: Vienna is internationally highly regarded and recognized, which
the interest in international employees has increased. There are many inquiries, especially from Japan, asking whether employees can come to Vienna for two or three years.

Japan's ambassador was also present at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Takeda building. Is there a lively exchange with Japan or is the company's headquarters only there?
Rieger: As a Japanese company with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan's influence is very large. The value structure of a Japanese company places great emphasis on reputation, integrity and standing, which is also reflected in the corporate culture. This results in many contacts with Japan, but also with the USA. The presence of the Japanese ambassador at our groundbreaking ceremony was a great honor.