Takeda offers $8.8B for Millennium

Takeda Pharmaceutical is placing an $8.8 billion bet on cancer meds. The Japanese drugmaker has offered $25 per share for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, which not only makes the lucrative blood-cancer med Velcade, but boasts a pipeline of up-and-coming cancer therapies, too.

Analysts see the deal as "a positive move." Takeda has had a $10 billion war chest ready for dealmaking, and it's been needing some way to offset the looming loss of exclusivity on its blockbuster diabetes med Actos, whose U.S. patent expires in 2011. The offering price for Millennium amounts to a 53 percent premium over market.

- see the press release from Takeda
- read the story from the Financial Times

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