Dive Brief:
- Takeda Pharmaceutical will return rights for two developmental molecules to Amgen, the Japanese drugmaker said last week.
- The companies had struck a collaborative R&D deal in 2008, which gave Takeda the rights to develop and commercialize 13 molecules for the Japanese market.
- While Takeda will hand back rights on AMG403 and AMG386, the companies will continue to collaborate on the remaining molecules.
Dive Insight:
Takeda's collaboration deal with Amgen has already yielded one successful drug—a colorectal cancer treatment called Vectibix.
Japanese sales of Vectibix totaled 18.4 billion yen (around $180 million) in Takeda's 2015 fiscal year, which ended March 31.
Takeda said it would work with Amgen to ensure that any patients taking study drugs will continue to receive the therapies in Japan.
AMG403 is being developed for treatment of pain related to cancer while AMG386 is aimed at treating solid tumors, according to BioSpace.
Takeda has been doing some restructuring, which might explain its decision. Takeda has decided to focus its efforts on inflammatory disease drugs, gout, diabetes, and major depressive disorder. In addition, the company has also created two new business units to support its pipeline, including a specialty business unit and a general business Unit.