Pharmas form joint venture to jumpstart Japanese drug research

Three large Japanese firms are forming a joint venture to jumpstart drug research in their home country and stem a recent decline in the development of innovative medicines there.

On Monday, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Astellas Pharma and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking announced they’ve signed a deal to establish the as-yet unnamed joint venture, which will be tasked with incubating early drug discovery programs, primarily from Japan, and turning them into new therapies.