Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Takeda 575,000,000 $ and approximately 200 Takeda employees will be merged into AstraZeneca when the transaction is completed.
Thursday, December 17, 2015 – EL GLOBAL / MADRID
AstraZeneca has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the respiratory division of Takeda Pharmaceutical. The transaction expands the rights to roflumilast (marketed as Daliresp in the US and other countries as Daxas), the only oral PDE4 inhibitor approved for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
AstraZeneca has marketed Daliresp in the United States as it acquired the rights to the product from Actavis in the first quarter of 2015. The acquisition completes the worldwide rights to strengthen AstraZeneca's respiratory division and will complement the company's product portfolio for the treatment of COPD. Recent data confirm the beneficial effect that Daxas brings to patients by reducing exacerbations as adjunctive therapy to double or triple bronchodilator therapy. The deal will also give AstraZeneca access to other marketed and in-development respiratory medicines.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Takeda 575,000,000 $ and approximately 200 Takeda employees will be merged into AstraZeneca when the transaction is completed.
Luca Miels, executive vice president of global strategy and product portfolio at AstraZeneca, said: “The deal with Takeda will complement our respiratory business, one of our three core therapeutic areas, and help us achieve our goal of growing further and further will immediately grow our revenues from 2016. Daxas, in particular, will be an important addition to our portfolio of treatments for COPD patients,” he added.
Annual global sales of the three principal medicines purchased, excluding AstraZeneca sales of Daliresp in the United States, were $ 198,000,000 for the fiscal year ended March 2015. The transaction was accounted for as a business combination and was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016, subject to customary conditions. It is hoped to boost AstraZeneca's revenue immediately starting in 2016. The acquisition of the worldwide rights to Daliresp also means that AstraZeneca will stop paying royalties on sales of the drug in the United States. Sales forecasts for 2016 are expected to be disclosed when the company reports its 2015 results on February 4, 2016.
Related news: AstraZeneca acquires Acerta Pharma's 55% for $4 billion
AstraZeneca. Partnership with WuXi in China
AstraZeneca to Buy Respiratory Drug Business From Japan's Takeda
AstraZeneca's $4 Billion Acerta Stake Completes Cancer Strategy
Pharmaceuticals: GSK detects bristol-myers anti-hiv activity for 1.5 billion $
