Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), has agreed to acquire TachoSil Fibrin Sealant Patch from Takeda for $400m upfront in cash.
Image: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company head office in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan. Photo: courtesy of J o / Wikimedia Commons.
Novartis has also agreed to acquire dry eye drug Xiidra from Takeda for $3.4bn upfront in cash. Takeda plans to use the proceeds from these divestitures to decrease its debt and enhance deleveraging toward its target of 2.0x net debt/adjusted EBITDA in the medium term.
TachoSil is a ready-to-use surgical patch developed to help surgeons to achieve fast and reliable bleeding control and tissue sealing.
The product can be used as a supportive treatment in surgery to improve hemostasis and tissue sealing where standard techniques are insufficient. TachoSil is marketed in over 50 countries across the globe.
Around 80 employees associated with TachoSil surgical patch unit will join Ethicon, upon completion of the deal.
Takeda said it recorded full year adjusted net sales of around $155m in the 2018 fiscal year for TachoSil.
As per terms of the deal, Ethicon will purchase the assets and licenses, which facilitate the manufacturing, licensing and commercialization of TachoSil. Takeda will continue to manage its ownership of manufacturing facility in Linz, Austria.
Takeda has signed a long-term manufacturing services agreement to continue the production of TachoSil products and supply them to Ethicon.
Subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
Takeda president and CEO Christophe Weber said: “These initial divestitures represent important steps in advancing the growth strategy Takeda outlined following our transformational acquisition of Shire earlier this year.
“We are working to strategically simplify and optimize our portfolio, while also rapidly deleveraging and continuing to invest in our growth drivers as a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader.”
In 2017, Ethicon acquired medical devices maker Torax Medical, which manufactures and markets Linx reflux management system and Fenix continence restoration system.
Linx system is a minimally invasive device designed for use in the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).