Takeda/Millennium
Announced: April 2008
Japan's largest drugmaker, Takeda, is only half the size of Pfizer or GlaxoSmithKline. But like other foreign companies, it's using the weak U.S. dollar to try and catch up. Millennium was its third billion-dollar deal of the year, after it bought Amgen's Japan unit for just over $1 billion in February and took control of TAP Pharmaceuticals, an Abbott Labs unit, for $1.5 billion in March. It was also the biggest deal ever for a Japanese pharma company.
Cambridge-based Millenium's big drug is blood cancer-treatment Velcade. Velcade is similar to another drug, Revlimid by Celgene, and the two have jockeyed for position. But according to S&P analyst Steven Silver, new research suggests that pairing the drugs might be the best treatment. That would be great news for Takeda, whose patent on its biggest-selling ulcer drug Prevacid expires next year.
NEXT: Bristol-Myers Squibb/ImClone Systems
Last updated September 08 2008: 10:23 AM ET
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