Dive Brief:
- In a move to create a "more agile business model", Takeda Pharmaceutical's long-touted consumer healthcare split is moving ahead – it is transferring its Japan Consumer Healthcare Business Unit (JCHBU), which focuses on over-the-counter drugs mainly in Japan, to the newly-established but wholly-owned Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company (TCHC).
- The split will increase TCHC's capital from 10 million yen ($88,400) to 490 million yen ($4.3 million).
- The effective date of the company split will be April 1, 2017; as a simple absorption-type split with a wholly owned subsidiary, the impact on Takeda's financial results overall is expected to be minimal.
Dive Insight:
Takeda first announced its plans to split off its Japan Consumer Healthcare Business Unit into a wholly owned subsidiary, Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company Limited (TCHC), in February 2016. The idea was to create a separate company that could move more quickly to take advantage of business opportunities and expand the company's already growing consumer healthcare business.
"Our consumer healthcare business in Japan remains important to Takeda, and we are committed to this business going forward," Christophe Weber, president & CEO of Takeda said back in 2016. "The establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary will allow the Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company to accelerate its growth while helping consumers stay healthy.”
The new company will have a focus on the Asian markets, especially Japan. The company's over-the-counter products include Alinamin, vitamin products that have been available for over 50 years, Benza, a range of cold remedies, and Midori-no-Shukan, a health food that contains euglena and green vegetables. According to the Yano Research Institute, the Japanese OTC market was worth 809 billion yen ($7.2 billion) in 2015, with a 3.3% growth in non-prescription drugs.
Takeda's been in the news a lot this month. Last week the company announced its acquisition of cancer specialist Ariad Pharmaceuticals, first touted in January, and the expansion of its deal with CRO PRA Health Sciences.