Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has won European Union approval for its takeover of Shire PLC, clearing the last major regulatory hurdle for the $62 billion acquisition and paving the way to a shareholder vote.
While the acquisition sailed smoothly through the regulatory process, getting approval from major markets from China to the U.S., Europe presented the biggest potential challenge. The European Commission signed off on Takeda's biggest deal Tuesday after the Japanese drugmaker agreed to sell an experimental drug for inflammatory bowel disease made by Shire to satisfy antitrust concerns.
"Takeda would be unlikely to continue developing Shire's new anti-integrin treatment" that rivals Takeda's Entyvio, the European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday. "This would have meant a serious loss of innovation on a market where patients currently have few treatment options."