May Zhu

Director, External Manufacturing and Testing at Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Speaker

May Zhu is Director, External Manufacturing and Testing within Takeda R&D, where she leads strategic partnerships with external manufacturing and testing organizations supporting Takeda’s R&D portfolio. She focuses on strengthening CDMO/CTO partnerships, optimizing operating models, and improving cross-functional collaboration to enable efficient delivery across development programs.

May brings more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience spanning drug development across diverse modalities, CMC program leadership, analytical development, external manufacturing and testing, and partner relationship management. Her career includes extensive internal CMC leadership and cross-functional collaboration across Takeda R&D and Commercial organizations, as well as connecting internal development teams with external partners. She combines this broad drug-development experience with expertise in external partnership strategy, governance, and operational excellence.