Takeda Pharma maintains outlook unchanged for 2021

TOKYO Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co posted a 13 per cent drop in operating earnings for the nine months ended December, but kept its profit outlook unchanged for the fiscal year as it works to bolster its drugs pipeline.

In the first three quarters of the year, operating profit fell to 401.9 billion yen $3.12 billion from a year earlier when results were boosted by one-time gains on asset sales. The company said core operating profit, which strips out non-recurring items, increased 26 per cent in the nine-month period.

In December, European Union regulators approved Takeda's vaccine for dengue fever, branded as QDENGA. The vaccine was approved in Indonesia, while U.S. regulators are reviewing it on a priority basis.

Takeda expects the vaccine to generate $700 million to $1.6 billion in sales over the course of several years.

In December, the company agreed to buy an experimental psoriasis drug from U.S. based Nimbus Therapeutics for $6 billion, showing its willingness to spend big to shore up its pipeline as mainstay products lose patent protection.

After its $59 billion takeover of Shire Plc in 2019, Takeda had been aggressively cutting debt and selling non-core assets until that deal.

Our robust cash flow and strong financial position enabled us to make substantive progress in deleveraging even as we continued to invest for growth, Takeda said in a statement, adding that its net debt to core earnings ratio has improved to 2.5 times as of the end of the third quarter.