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news.Swiss pharmaceutical company Acino has agreed to acquire Takeda’s select over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription pharmaceutical assets in multiple Near East, Middle East and Africa (NEMEA) countries for a total value of more than $200m.
Image: The head office of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan. Photo: courtesy of J o / Wikimedia Commons.
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The divestment is part of Takeda’s strategy to focus on core business areas and facilitate rapid deleveraging following its acquisition of Shire.
Takeda growth and emerging markets business unit president Ricardo Marek said: “Takeda remains committed to this region, as we continue our work in accelerating access to our life-changing portfolio of innovative products to meet the needs of patients. We will do this via our commercial activities and Takeda’s Access to Medicines program.
“We are confident that Acino is best positioned to provide uninterrupted access and supply of the divested products to patients.”
As per terms of the deal, Acino will acquire around 30 select prescription pharmaceutical and OTC products from Takeda.
The acquired products are marketed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and UAE, as well as other countries.
Both firms will also sign a multi-year manufacturing and supply agreement, which will allow Takeda to manufacture the products on behalf of Acino.
Subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to be completed between January and March 2020.
The employees, including primarily sales and marketing professionals supporting the portfolio, will be transferred to Acino, upon completion of the deal.
Acino CEO Steffen Saltofte said: “This agreement strengthens our presence in our core emerging markets where we have established ourselves as a leading high-quality pharmaceutical provider.
“It will allow us to expand our offering in both key therapeutic areas and key markets; and ensure that patients in emerging markets will have continued access to a broad range of high-quality affordable medicines as part of the Acino portfolio.”
In May this year, Novartis agreed to acquire dry eye drug Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5% from Takeda for $3.4bn.
As per terms of the agreement, Takeda is also eligible to secure up to an additional $1.9bn in potential milestone payments from Novartis along with $3.4bn upfront payment in cash.
