January 22, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
The soon-to-be first foreign chief executive of Takeda Pharmaceuticals is open to large deals that will help Japan’s largest drugmaker reconfigure its focus and streamline its operations, he told Reuters Wednesday, and said he’s been busy undertaking a “major review” of all of the firm’s businesses.
“We don’t want to be passive and we don’t want to watch the train passing,” Christophe Weber told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. Originally lured away from GlaxoSmithKline last April, Weber became COO in June and is the incoming CEO for the 230-year-old Japanese company.
“Organically, we are doing okay, but I wouldn’t mind doing a few deals,” Weber said. “Perhaps a deal would be small or perhaps big. It depends what is out there.”
He told Reuters he’s used the last nine months to drill down into Takeda’s infrastructure and has pinpointed three key area’s that will receive the most focus: emerging markets, GI therapies and oncology.
“Now we are in a better position to be active externally, which we want. We have zero net debt at Takeda, so we have some room for maneuver,” he said. Referring to Takeda’s acquisition of American biotech Millennium, which it now has bringing in around $3 billion annually, Weber said he’d be open to similar deals that allow the company to reach new markets.
Chief among these is India, which Weber sees as a major driver for growth for Takeda moving forward, particularly in the oncology and GI spaces.
“We have now established a presence there to understand the market better,” he said. “It’s a difficult market, very competitive and relatively low-margin, but we cannot ignore India.”
Weber also told Reuters that he’d been approached to take the top job at Sanofi but had declined.
“I’m committed to Takeda,” said Weber . “I just arrived and I’m not the kind of guy who would jump like that. It’s a unique opportunity at Takeda and I’m very committed to it.”
BioSpace Temperature Poll
What Are Your Predictions for the Price Bidding War? The market has been buzzing about an escalating price war between large payers like Express Scripts and Big Pharma. Multiple deals last week showed Gilead forming exclusive pacts and smaller companies like Kite Pharma starting talks early. What do you think will be the effect on prices? BioSpace wants your opinion!
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