Nura Aykanat Appointed New General Manager of Takeda Türkiye

Nura Aykanat, who successfully led the Rare Genetic Diseases Business Unit at Takeda Turkey, has been appointed as General Manager of Takeda Turkey as of January 2025.

In the first week of 2025, a senior-level appointment took place at Takeda, the Japanese pharmaceutical giant and one of the major players in Turkey's pharmaceutical sector. Nura Aykanat, who has held important positions at Takeda Turkey since 2016, was appointed to the General Manager position as of January 2025.

With over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, 8 of which were spent at Takeda Turkey, Nura Aykanat had been serving as Acting General Manager for the past 2 months in addition to her role as Director of the Rare Genetic Diseases Business Unit at Takeda Turkey.

In her appointment as General Manager, Aykanat will lead her teams with commitment to Takeda's mission of "a healthier, brighter future." Throughout her career, she has participated in various important local and regional projects, specializing in different areas such as portfolio management, sales and marketing team establishment, and strategic management, achieving significant successes with her teams. In her new role, she aims to deliver innovative and pioneering solutions in healthcare alongside the teams she leads.

After graduating from Istanbul University's Department of Biology in 2002, she completed an MBA program at the same university. Aykanat began her career in 2004 in the Sales Department at Pfizer in cardiovascular and respiratory areas. Between 2008 and 2016, she worked in Roche Pharmaceutical's Oncology team in the solid tumors field, first in sales and then as Product Manager responsible for various products in the marketing department.

Joining Takeda Turkey's team in 2016 for the establishment of the Oncology Business Unit under the specialized products umbrella, Nura Aykanat became Oncology Business Unit Leader in 2017. Following this role, she took on the positions of Oncology Business Unit Director and Director of the Rare Genetic Diseases Business Unit, and as of January 2025, Aykanat will serve as General Manager of Takeda Turkey.
Developing her leadership direction through Leadership training at Insead and Global Operations Management training at UCI, Nura Aykanat has also contributed to her professional and personal development through Co-Active Coaching training she received.