TOKYO (Reuters) -Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said on Thursday its full-year profit rose 6.4% after Japan’s largest drugmaker spent big to replenish its drug pipeline.
Operating profit for the year ended March 31 came in at 490.5 billion yen ($3.63 billion) compared with 461 billion yen in the year prior, the company said.
That compares with the drugmaker’s earlier estimate of 530 billion yen and a consensus forecast of 535 billion yen from a Refinitiv poll of 15 analysts.
The company estimated the current fiscal year’s operating profit at 349 billion yen.
Takeda agreed in December to buy an experimental psoriasis drug from U.S.-based Nimbus Therapeutics for as much as $6 billion, marking its first major purchase since its $59 billion takeover of Shire Plc in 2019.
Since absorbing Shire, Takeda has been under pressure to reduce debt, while also building out its pipeline to compensate for the loss of patent protection of franchise drugs such as Vyvanse and Entyvio in the coming years.
Takeda’s long-awaited dengue vaccine QDENGA was approved by European regulators last December, notching a needed win for the company’s in-house pipeline and leading to annual sales of up to $2 billion for the shot.
($1 = 135.0500 yen)
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
