Takeda’s Pipeline Is Still Developing but Has Promise

Narrow-moat Takeda Pharmaceutical is Japan’s leading pharmaceutical company by revenue. While the firm historically focused on the Japan market, management is undertaking an ambitious overhaul to diversify away from its stagnant local market and overcome patent expiries with acquisitions. In January 2019, it closed its purchase of Shire Plc for approximately $57 billion. The mega-deal not only gave Takeda access to Shire’s rare-disease and plasma-derived therapies, it also granted Takeda much greater penetration into United States' markets and diversification away from Japan’s cost-cutting policies.