$278 million! Takeda sells Asia Pacific interests in 18 drugs to Celltrion

Takeda Pharmaceuticals has again divested some of its operations to help it repay the huge debt it incurred with its acquisition of ShireOn June 11th Takeda said it would sell its portfolio of 18 over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs sold in the Asia-Pacific region to Celltrion, a South Korean drug makerThe total value of the transaction was $278 million, including $266 million in cash advances and $12 million in potential milestone paymentsAs with previous divestiture deals, the rights to the drug sold are outside Takeda's selected key business areas (gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma derivative therapy, oncology and neuroscience)Specifically, the portfolio includes otC and prescription products in the cardiovascular, diabetes and general medical treatment areas, mainly in Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, philippines, Singapore, Korea and ThailandTakeda said total sales of 18 products sold in the fiscal year ending March 2019 were about $140 million, with the diabetes drug Nesina and the high blood pressure drug Edarbi, the most prominentTakeda expects the deal to close by the end of this year, and after the deal is completed, Takeda will continue to be responsible for the production and manufacture of these drugs and making them available to Celltrion for saleBefore that, Takeda had sold at least $7.7 billion in non-core assets, most recently in April, for $670 million to Orifarm for OTCs and prescription drugs sold in EuropeEarlier, Takeda sold the dry eye drug Xiidra to Novartis for $5.3 billion and several products to Acino, Hypera Pharma and Stada ArzneimittelIn recent years, Takeda has spun off non-core businesses to raise capital to meet its $10bn sell-off target to ease the tens of billions of dollars in debt burden spent on the acquisition of ShireThe Nikkei Asian Review recently reported that Takeda is planning to sell its trading unit outside Japan for about 400 billion yen ($3.7 billion)In a conference call last month, Takeda CEO Christophe Weber acknowledged that consumer health is not Takeda's core businessSource: 1, Takeda offloads some non-core assets in Asia Pacific to Celltrion 2, Takeda, debt in mind, offloads 18 drugs in Asia Pacific to Celltrion for $278M