Ascendis Pharma has pocketed $70 million in exchange for the Japanese rights to the FDA-approved long-acting growth hormone Skytrofa and two other hormone drugs.

Beyond the upfront payment, Teijin Pharma has pledged up to $175 million in development and regulatory milestones as well as additional commercial milestones and royalties that could reach up to the mid-20s per cent.

After inking a slate of geography-specific product selloffs last year, Takeda has turned back to Japan.

Takeda locked up a deal to sell four Type 2 diabetes meds in Japan to local drugmaker Teijin Pharma for 133 billion Japanese yen ($1.2 billion), freeing up the company to focus on its core businesses in gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology and neuroscience.