Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Takeda will acquire Millennium for approximately $8.8 billion through a cash tender offer of $25.00 per share.
The transaction was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. Upon completion of the acquisition, Millennium will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and will continue operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a standalone business unit. Millennium will be known as Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Takeda Company.
Millennium is a leading biopharmaceutical company. In the United States, Millennium markets VELCADE(R) (bortezomib) for Injection-a novel, market- leading oncology product approved in more than 85 countries. Millennium has an innovation-driven discovery and development organization, which is advancing a pipeline of novel product candidates in oncology and inflammation. This includes a potential therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is expected to enter Phase III clinical trials in late 2008/early 2009. Millennium reported total revenues of approximately $528 million for 2007.
The acquisition of Millennium accelerates Takeda's vision of becoming a global leader in oncology with critical mass in the areas of oncology discovery, development, regulatory affairs and commercialization. Millennium and Takeda have complementary research, development and commercialization capabilities, which have the potential to create a powerful new drug development engine and accelerate the potential of an emerging drug pipeline.