Encouraging sign for Takeda's pricey psoriasis asset

A few eyebrows might have been raised late last year at the size of the deal when Japanese drugmaker Takeda (TYO: 4502) acquired a selective allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor from privately-held US drug discovery company Nimbus Therapeutics.

Takeda paid Nimbus $4 billion upfront, and is due to make two milestone payments of $1 billion each upon achieving annual net sales of $4 billion and $5 billion, for the autoimmune diseases candidate, which is closest to market in psoriasis.

This significant spend might well be worth the outlay, if data shared at the weekend is anything to go by. Takeda presented positive results from a Phase IIb trial of TAK-279 in plaque psoriasis.