(Yicai) June 17 -- Shan Guohong is expected to resign as vice president of Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda and president of its China arm to join innovative Chinese drugmaker BeiGene, according to informed sources.

Shan will likely step in as chief commercial officer for China of BeiGene, succeeding Yin Min, who is being probed by regulators, several sources close to the matter told Yicai. However, his role will differ in scope from that of his predecessor, they added.

Liu Yan, VP of Takeda China and head of its gastroenterology business unit, will step in as the company's interim president, the sources noted.

BeiGene has not yet replied to Yicai's request to comment on Shan's appointment. Takeda has also not made any related announcements.

Shan was appointed president of Takeda China on September 18, 2017, taking charge of the Tokyo-based company's overall strategy and business growth in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau. He also serves as a member of the firm's Growth and Emerging Markets management committee.

During his tenure at Takeda, Shan successfully drove the approval and launch of multiple innovative products in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau, including the world's first oral proteasome inhibitor, Ninlaro.

Before joining Takeda, Shan held senior management positions at multinational pharmaceutical companies, including general manager of Pfizer China and VP of AstraZeneca's Chinese arm, accumulating more than twenty years of industry management experience.

Established in 2010, BeiGene focuses on the research, development, production, and commercialization of innovative oncology drugs and is accelerating its internationalization efforts. It rebranded as BeOne earlier this month and relocated its headquarters to Basel, setting up a triangular "China R&D - Europe-US pricing - Switzerland tax planning" framework to address global minimum tax rules and position itself closer to European biomedical clusters.

Yin Min joined BeiGene in January 2022, succeeding Wu Qingyi as CCO for China. In October last year, Yin was reportedly put under investigation by authorities related to her tenure at AstraZeneca, where she worked for 15 years in various senior positions before joining BeiGene.

Editor: Martin Kadiev