Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

History

Takeda Pharmaceuticals was founded on June 12, 1781, and was incorporated on January 29, 1925.

In 1977, Takeda first entered the U.S. pharmaceutical market by developing a joint venture with Abbott Laboratories called TAP Pharmaceuticals. Through TAP Pharmaceuticals, Takeda and Abbott launched the blockbusters Lupron (leuprolide) in 1985 and Prevacid (lansoprazole) in 1995.

One of the firm's mainstay drugs is Actos, a compound in the thiazolidinedione class of drugs used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Launched in 1999, Actos has become the best-selling diabetes drug in the world with 4 billion USD in sales during the 2008 fiscal year.

In February 2005, Takeda announced its acquisition of San Diego, California, based Syrrx, a company specializing in high-throughput X-ray crystallography, for USD270 million.

In February 2008, Takeda acquired the Japanese operations of Amgen and rights to a dozen of the California biotechnology company's pipeline candidates for the Japanese market. In March 2008, Takeda and Abbott Laboratories announced plans to conclude their 30-year-old joint venture, TAP Pharmaceuticals, that had over USD3 billion in sales in its final year. The split resulted in Abbott acquiring U.S. rights to Lupron and the drug's support staff. On the other hand, Takeda received rights to Prevacid and TAP's pipeline candidates. The move also increased Takeda's headcount by 3,000 employees. In April 2008, Takeda announced that it was acquiring Millennium Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a company specializing in cancer drug research, for USD8.8 billion. The acquisition brought in Velcade, a drug indicated for hematological malignancies, as well as a portfolio of pipeline candidates in the oncology, inflammation, and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. Millennium now operates as an independent subsidiary, "Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company." In May 2008, the company licensed non-exclusively the RNAi technology platform developed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, creating a potentially long-term partnership between the companies.

On May 19, 2011, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Nycomed announced that Takeda would acquire Nycomed for €9.6 billion. The acquisition was completed by September 30, 2011.

On April 11, 2012, Takeda Pharmaceutical and URL Pharma announced that Takeda would acquire URL Pharma, then run by the founder's son Richard Roberts, for USD800 million. The acquisition was completed by June 4, 2012. On 25 May 2012, Takeda announced the purchase of Brazilian pharmaceutical company Multilab by R$540 million.

On 26 September 2014, Takeda announced it would team up with BioMotiv with the stated aim of identifying and developing new compounds over a five-year period, worth approximately USD25 million. On 30 September 2014, Takeda announced its intention to expand a collaboration with MacroGenics, valued up to USD1.6 billion. The collaboration will focus on the co-development of the preclinical autoimmune compound MGD010. MGD010 is a therapy which targets the B-cell surface proteins CD32B and CD79B, and is indicated for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

In 2015, Takeda sold its respiratory drugs business to the Swedish-British AstraZeneca for $575 million (about £383 million), a deal that included roflumilast and ciclesonide. On November 20, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ixazomib developed by Takeda for use in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of multiple myeloma after at least one prior therapy.

On December 2, 2016, the company spun out its neuroscience research division into Cerevance, a join venture along with Lightstone Ventures.

In January 2017, Takeda announced it would acquire Ariad Pharmaceuticals for $5.2 billion, expanding the company's oncology and hematology divisions. The acquisition of Ariad closed on February 16th, 2017.

Acquisition history

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

Locations

Takeda operates two primary bases in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo. Its United States subsidiary is based in Deerfield, Illinois, and all Global Operations outside Japan and U.S. are based in Opfikon (Zurich), Switzerland. The company maintains research and development sites in Osaka and Shonan, Japan; San Diego and Cambridge, United States; London, United Kingdom; and Singapore.

Lawsuits

In April 2015 Takeda agreed to pay a settlement of $2.37 billion to an estimated 9,000 people who submitted claims alleging that pioglitazone was responsible for giving them bladder cancer. In 2014, a plaintiff was awarded $9 billion in punitive damages after a federal court found Takeda hid the cancer risks of their diabetes medicine, but the amount was later reduced to $37 million by a judge who deemed the charge excessive.