Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) and Pfizer Inc.
(“Pfizer”) announced that they have entered into an agreement under
which Pfizer in China will co-promote Takeda’s Actos®
(pioglitazone HCl) with Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceuticals in China. The
exclusive co-promotion agreement will build on the current sales
capability for Actos in China by increasing the number of medical
representatives supporting the sales and marketing of the product and
expanding the product reach utilizing the territory coverage of Pfizer
in China, the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in China.
Pfizer’s Chinese affiliate will receive a fixed ratio of Actos net sales.
Actos, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has been sold in China
since 2004 by Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture of Takeda
Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Tianjin Lisheng Pharmaceutical Co.,
Ltd., a Chinese company.
Currently the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical market, China is
expected to be the third largest market by 2011. According to the
International Diabetes Federation, the diabetes epidemic has the
greatest potential to increase in China, because of its population size,
rapid urbanization and economic expansion.