Top ten pharmaceutical companies accelerate R&D strategy adjustment

Combination of investment transactions and asset divestiture activities in the first quarter

In recent years, with the rapid development of innovative biotechnology companies, large global pharmaceutical companies have launched cooperation models such as acquisitions and investments to quickly supplement their new drug R&D pipelines

Novartis: Innovative drugs accelerate their entry into the PD-1 field, generic drugs to consolidate their antibiotic status

On January 11, Novartis and BeiGene signed a strategic cooperation agreement, paying an advance payment of US$650 million, plus royalties and milestone payments, to obtain tislelizumab in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.

On February 11, Novartis’s Sandoz signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to acquire the latter’s cephalosporin antibiotic business in order to consolidate its global leading position in the antibiotic field

On February 17, Novartis reached an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Roche: supplementary diagnostic business

On March 25, Roche and GenMark Diagnostics of the United States announced that they have reached a final acquisition agreement.

Merck: Entering the field of immune diseases

On February 25, Merck announced that it will acquire Pandion Therapeutics through its subsidiaries for a total of approximately US$1.

AbbVie: Complements the skin care product portfolio

On January 12, AbbVie’s Allergan Aesthetics and Cypris Medical (a private medical equipment company headquartered in Chicago, USA) signed a warrant agreement

GSK: Stripping off non-core assets to strengthen anti-virus capabilities

GSK continued to implement the divestiture of non-core assets.

On February 17, GSK and Vir Biotechnology signed an expansion agreement to expand cooperation in the field of coronavirus to develop new therapies against influenza and other respiratory viruses

Pfizer: Investment in core areas

On January 12, Pfizer announced that as part of its Breakthrough Growth Initiative (PBGI), the company invested US$120 million in four clinical-stage biotechnology companies in the second half of 2020

The Pfizer PBGI plan was established in June 2020, and its focus is on non-controlling equity investments, mainly in listed companies with small and medium market capitalizations, and mature non-listed companies that are developing clinical-stage projects consistent with Pfizer’s core focus areas, involving internal medicine Science, inflammation and immunology, oncology, rare disease, vaccines, and other fields

Sanofi: Enriching the immunology pipeline to sell anti-inflammatory drug combinations   

On January 11, Sanofi reached an acquisition agreement with Kymab, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of fully human monoclonal antibodies and focusing on immune-mediated diseases and immuno-oncology therapies

On March 23, Sanofi reached an agreement to sell seven anti-inflammatory drugs to Fidia Farmaceutici, a company headquartered in Italy

Takeda: Accelerating the divestiture of non-core assets and strengthening core areas   

Takeda has maintained a strong momentum in its non-core asset divestiture strategy in 2020, surpassing its $10 billion non-core asset divestiture target

On January 5, Takeda announced a selection of prescription drug product portfolios and sold 16 non-core prescription drugs, including cardiovascular/metabolic and anti-inflammatory and calcium supplementation products, sold in Europe to Cheplapharm for a total value of US$562 million

On January 29, Takeda announced the sale of non-core over-the-counter and prescription drug products sold in Latin America to Hypera SA for a total value of US$825 million

On February 26, Takeda announced that it would sell four non-core type 2 diabetes products (Nesina, Liovel, Inisync, and Zafatek) sold in Japan to Teijin Pharmaceutical for 133 billion yen
.
In fiscal year 2019, the total sales of the four products were approximately 30.
8 billion yen
.

On March 31, Takeda announced the sale of Takeda Consumer Healthcare Co.
, Ltd.
to Oscar A-Co KK for a total value of 242 billion yen
.
The product portfolio sold includes a variety of over-the-counter drugs and health products, which have a total revenue of more than 60 billion yen in fiscal year 2019
.
On the same day, Takeda sold approximately 130 over-the-counter and prescription drug products sold in Europe, as well as two production bases in Denmark and Poland, to Orifarm Group for a total value of no more than 670 million U.
S.
dollars
.

Since January 2019, the total value of 12 non-core asset divestitures announced by Takeda has reached US$12.
9 billion
.
At the same time, Takeda is also strengthening its five core business areas: gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology and neuroscience
.

On March 3, Takeda and the biopharmaceutical company Ovid Therapeutics reached an exclusive agreement for up to US$856 million (including an upfront payment of US$196 million, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, and tiered double-digit royalties for product sales.
), obtained the latter’s global development and commercialization rights for the treatment of Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in children and adults with Soticlestat
.

On March 9, Takeda announced the acquisition of Maverick Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company
.
According to the agreement, Takeda will obtain the latter’s T-cell adaptor COBRA platform and a broad portfolio of development products, including Maverick’s main development candidate drug: currently undergoing phase I/II research, TAK-186 for the treatment of EGFR-positive solid tumors (MVC-101), and TAK-280 (MVC-280), which is expected to enter the clinic in the second half of the year for the treatment of B7H3-positive solid tumors
.

In addition, in 2020, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) acquired MyoKardia, a cardiac drug company, for US$13.
1 billion, and Johnson & Johnson acquired US pharmaceutical company Momenta for US$6.
5 billion
.
These two transactions were ranked third and fourth in the global biomedical M&A rankings in 2020, but after large-scale mergers and acquisitions, BMS and Johnson & Johnson did not conduct new large-scale investment transactions in the first quarter of this year
.