Takeda jettisons non-core portfolio in Asia Pacific to Celltrion for a potential $278 million
pharmafile | June 12, 2020 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Takeda, celltrion, pharma, sale
Takeda continues its mission to reduce its debt in the wake of its $49 billion acquisition of Shire in January last year, announcing that it will sell a portfolio of non-core over-the-counter and prescription therapies to South Korea-based Celltrion in a deal worth up to $278.3 million.
The deal breaks down into an upfront payment from Celltrion of $266 million in cash, plus another potential $12 million in legal and regulatory milestone payments.
The portfolio includes a range of drugs in cardiovascular, diabetes and general medicine sold predominantly in the Asia Pacific, with regions including Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The products form part of Takeda’s Growth & Emerging Markets Business Unit, generating around $140 million for the company in net sales in 2018. Takeda said the reason for its sale of these products is that they don’t fall within the company’s focus areas of Gastroenterology (GI), Rare Diseases, Plasma-Derived Therapies, Oncology and Neuroscience
“Across our Growth & Emerging Markets, Takeda must focus on accelerating the commercial availability of our highly innovative medicines for patients living with complex and rare conditions, and expanding our approach to Access to Medicines across the Region,” said Ricardo Marek, President, Growth & Emerging Markets Business Unit at Takeda. “Doing so, better addresses patient unmet needs. While we remain committed to Asia Pacific, and the Emerging Markets, divesting non-core products helps achieve those goals.”
The partnership also stipulates that Takeda will continue to manufacture the affected products, supplying them to Celltrion, who scoop up the licenses to them in the aforementioned nations.
“This announcement marks continued progress on our commitment to divest non-core products as we remain focused on maintaining our financial discipline and rapid deleveraging following our acquisition of Shire,” said Costa Saroukos, Takeda’s Chief Financial Officer. “One of several transactions since the launch of the divestment programme, the sale announced today will further focus Takeda on our five key business areas and our pipeline of innovative medicines.”
Matt Fellows
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