武田藥品 54億美元買下癌症藥廠Ariad 2017-01-11 〔編譯王惠慧／綜合報導〕日本最大藥品公司武田藥品工業（Takeda Pharmaceutical）週一宣布，將以54億美元買下美國癌症藥品製造商Ariad藥廠（Ariad Pharmaceuticals），預計在今年2月底完成交易；受消息激勵，Ariad週一股價狂飆72.85%，收在23.75美元。 根據協議內容，武田將以每股24美元、較1月6日Ariad收盤價溢價75%左右的價格進行收購。路透報導指出，此筆交易完成後，武田便擁有Ariad藥廠的血癌藥Iclusig，該藥物2016年的銷售額約1.7億至1.8億美元。日本《產經新聞》報導，Ariad在血癌、肺癌等癌症藥品技術上具有優勢，武田這次收購後可能將未來發展重點放在上述藥物研發，並降低對日本市場的依賴，以利公司在全球市場競爭。該藥物去年銷售額1.7億美元 武田銷售最好的血癌藥Velcade預計在今年開始將面臨學名藥的競爭，其他藥品等到2020年也將失去專利保護，必須面臨競爭。路透報導，癌症藥物對藥廠具有很大的吸引力，他們願意支付高價進行研發，去年8月，輝瑞（Pfizer）才以每股逾80美元、總價140億美元現金併購美國癌症藥廠Medivation。加拿大藥廠Valeant也於去年證實正在與武田進行談判，以約100億美元價格將Salix部門出售給武田，但此案目前遭延宕，武田與Valeant皆未回應為何停止洽購。
Takeda takes unexpected blow as blockbuster Velcade patent ruled invalid by Eric Palmer | Aug 24, 2015 10:27am With approvals in the U.S and Europe expected soon, it looked like Takeda would have time to get its new multiple myeloma treatment into the market before patents fell off of blockbuster Velcade in 2022. But CEO Christophe Weber may need to plot a new strategy after a federal judge overturned a key patent, putting the Japanese drugmaker's drug vulnerable to generics 5 years early. U.S. District Judge Gregory Sleet struck down the patent Thursday, Bloomberg reports. The patent was being challenged by Allergan's ($AGN) Actavis, Novartis' ($NVS) Sandoz and Accord Healthcare. The injected treatment is one of Takeda's top sellers and pulled in 41.8 billion yen ($340 million) in the first quarter for Takeda. It is sold by Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) outside the U.S. "We are currently reviewing the official ruling and evaluating next steps," Elizabeth Pingpank, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for Takeda, told the news service in an email. Takeda's submitted ixazomib, also a treatment for treating the blood marrow cancer, to the FDA in July and to European regulators just last week. Like Velcade and Amgen's ($AMGN) Kyprolis, ixazomib is a proteasome inhibitor, designed to kill tumors by cutting off the production of proteins they need to grow. But ixazomib has the advantage of being an oral treatment and the drugmaker is expecting it to eventually hit blockbuster sales. Getting there has taken on more urgency after the drugmaker experienced some late-stage setbacks in oncology with lymphoma and prostate cancer treatments. "This is a blow because no drug company wants to lose any patent protection on its top product," Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan law professor told Bloomberg in an emailed statement. It is particularly a blow to Weber, who took on the CEO title earlier this year and is Takeda's first non-Japanese leader. In his debut earnings report in May, the company reported a small loss for the year, but he promised the a corner had been turned and that the company would be profitable this year. The loss, he said, was mainly tied to the charge it took after agreeing this spring to settle for $2.3 billion cases tied to risks of it diabetes drug Actos, a product whose patent loss contributed to Takeda's need for a turnaround. But there are signs that settlement is in trouble, which may leave Takeda having to chip in more money to get it done. Takeda has said it will consummate the deal when it has 95% of patients on board but when the first deadline came Aug. 12, only about 75% of plaintiffs signed up, prompting Takeda to extend the deadline another month.