Takeda said Wednesday it is weighing a bid for London-listed Shire, whose drugs include Adderall, for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The potential deal would create a global drug giant worth nearly $90 billion and add to a torrid run for mergers and acquisitions so far this year—much of it in health care as companies in the industry respond to a rapidly changing landscape.
A bid would represent Takeda’s biggest-ever deal, capping a string of smaller acquisitions in recent years aimed at broadening its international footprint. Takeda, founded in 1781 and Japan’s largest drugmaker by revenue and market capitalization, needs to keep expanding overseas to make up for a slowing market at home, analysts said.
If Takeda did nothing, “they’d only be waiting to die,” said Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist Rakuten Securities in Tokyo
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