Being a leader in rare diseases means more than just developing drugs, Takeda shows

Japanese drugmaker Takeda’s (TYO: 4502) $62 billion acquisition of rare disease specialist Shire showed its ambition to be a leader in the space.

But in fact Takeda’s pipeline was typically more focused on orphan disease areas even before the Shire deal, which was completed in early 2019.

Giles Platford, president of the company’s Europe and Canada unit, said that Takeda’s strategy of setting the innovation bar high and targeting unmet medical needs has led it to serve small patient populations, often without any prior treatment option, over a long period.