Celltrion finalizes $278mn acquisition of Takeda's primary care assets

South Korea's biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. has completed the $278 million acquisition of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd's primary care assets., the company said on Dec. 1.

Earlier in June, Celltrion announced that it would acquire the rights for patents, trademarks, permits and sales of 18 primary care assets from Takeda Pharmaceutical. Through the deal, Celltrion could exercise its rights for the primary care products in nine Asia Pacific countries, including Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. 

The deal was driven by Celltrion's desire to increase its global sales volume, to strengthen research and development in the global small molecule pharmaceutical business and to boost growth momentum in the APAC market, as the Korean pharma giant aims to become an integrated global biopharmaceuticals firm.

The 18 products include prescription medicines such as diabetes medicines Nesina and Actos as well as hypertension medicine Edarbi – all made targeting the global market. Also included are over-the-counter products such as cold medicine Whituben.

Among the products, Nesina and Edarbi are expected to contribute to stable revenue growth as their patents are protected until 2026 and 2027, respectively.

Also under a manufacturing and supply agreement, Takeda will continue to manufacture the divested products for Celltrion to ensure stable supply. In the future, some of the products will be manufactured by Celltrion's production facilities.

"Celltrion will be able to develop new drugs and expand its market share in the region thanks to the successful acquisition of select primary care and OTC product assets from Takeda," said Kee Woo-sung, the chief executive at Celltrion.

Meanwhile, Celltrion hopes to speed up the release of diabetes and hypertension products in the pipeline by developing new medicication such as compound drugs and biosimilar insulin using its own R&D and product patents.


Write to Woo-sub Kim at duter@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.