AstraZeneca acquisition of Takeda's respiratory business completed

AstraZeneca announced the recent completion of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. acquisition. 

At the initial announcement of the acquisition in December 2015, AstraZeneca's EVP of Global Portfolio and Product Strategy Luke Miels said: "The agreement with Takeda complements our respiratory business, one of our three main therapy areas, supports our return to growth and will be immediately accretive to earnings from 2016. Daxas in particular adds to our portfolio of treatments for patients with severe COPD.”

The global rights to roflumilast, marketed as Daliresp in the U.S. and Daxas outside of the U.S., is included in the acquisition. Roflumilast is the only oral PDE4 inhibitor approved for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Adding the global rights to roflumilast to the AstraZeneca portfolio will complement the company's treatments for COPD. AstraZeneca obtained the U.S. rights for Daliresp from Actavis in early 2015. Acquiring the global rights also negates the existing royalty payments for sales of the medication in the U.S.

AstraZeneca paid $575 million for Takeda's core respiratory business. Approximately 200 Takeda employees will transfer to AstraZeneca now that the acquisition is complete.