TOKYO, Jan 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Takeda Pharmaceuticals has named Julie Kim as the first woman to lead the 244-year-old Japanese drugmaker, a rarity in senior management in the world's fourth-largest economy.

Kim, a US citizen and head of the firm's US business, will next year succeed Christophe Weber who in 2015 became the drugmaker's first non-Japanese CEO, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Weber oversaw a reorientation that included the $62 billion acquisition of British rival Shire in 2019 but its share price has fallen almost 30 percent over the past five years.

There are only 13 women chief executive officers across the approximately 1,600 top-listed companies in Japan, according to a survey published by Kyodo News last year.

"Takeda is a unique company, and I am deeply honoured to have been chosen to lead it," Kim was quoted as saying in the statement.

Her appointment will be voted on by shareholders in June 2026.