Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda has received a key US regulatory approval for its acquisition of Irish-based Shire. The deal would catapult Takeda into the world's top drugmakers.
Takeda announced the $62 billion acquisition of Shire in early May. It had to wait for a regulatory nod from the United States Federal Trade Commission for two months.
The company is still undergoing antitrust review in China, the European Union, and Brazil. It also needs to get approval from 20 other jurisdictions as well as from shareholders of both drugmakers. However, a clearance from the United States could persuade investors that it will be able to complete the acquisition.
With favorable developments, Takeda said it expects the deal to close in the first half on 2019. The deal will make Takeda one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Japan.
The divestment of the cancer business may be a deterrent for Takeda, since oncology was one of the areas it had highlighted as driving the case for a Shire deal, along with gastrointestinal medicine and neuroscience.
