AstraZeneca acquires Takeda's respiratory business
AstraZeneca is strengthening its respiratory therapy area by acquiring Takeda's respiratory business, including rights to roflumilast outside the US. The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings from 2016.
AstraZeneca announced on December 16, 2015, a definitive agreement to acquire Takeda Pharmaceutical Company's core respiratory business. The deal includes the expansion of rights to roflumilast (marketed as Daxas/Daliresp), the sole approved oral PDE4 inhibitor for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The acquisition will also grant AstraZeneca access to other marketed respiratory medicines and early pipeline products. The company stated the deal complements its respiratory franchise, one of its three main therapy areas, and supports its return to growth strategy. AstraZeneca anticipates the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings starting in 2016.
The transaction is valued at $575 million, with approximately 200 employees transferring to AstraZeneca. The combined global annual sales of the acquired core medicines, excluding AstraZeneca's US sales of Daliresp, were $198 million as of March 2015. The acquisition of global rights to Daliresp will also eliminate existing royalty payments in the US.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial guidance for 2016 is anticipated to be provided with the full-year 2015 results in February 2016.