One balmy summer evening last year, some of the most prolific biotech and scientific minds of Boston came together.
Among them was the provost of MIT, who was enjoying the saxophone music alongside a U.S. congressman and senior venture capitalists. Their hosts: a Frenchman and an American tasked with turning around the fortunes of Asia's largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.
On the lawns of its Boston hub, the Japanese company was courting international partners as it tries to secure a stronger foothold in the American city, an epicenter of innovation in the biotechnology world.