Takeda, debt in mind, offloads 18 drugs in Asia Pacific to Celltrion for $278M

Takeda has earmarked another chunk of business for divestment to help it pay down debt. The Japanese pharma is offloading 18 over-the-counter and prescription drugs marketed in the Asia-Pacific region to South Korea’s Celltrion for $278 million, it said on Thursday. The portfolio generated sales of about $140 million in the fiscal year ended in March 2019, mainly driven by DPP-4 diabetes drug Nesina and hypertension med Edarbi, Takeda said. It will continue to manufacture the products and supply them to Celltrion after the transaction closes. Takeda expects the deal to wrap up by the end of the year. As is the case with its previous deals, the sold-off drugs fall outside of Takeda’s chosen focus business areas—gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology and neuroscience.