Apadamtase alfa /Cinaxadamtase alfa

Takeda will cut roughly 9% of its workforce over the next fiscal year as the next CEO puts her stamp on a yearslong restructuring. About 4,500 roles will be affected, the company said Wednesday in its fourth-quarter earnings presentation. That figure doesn’t account for hiring plans, including 2,200 roles that are currently open and new jobs that will be created throughout the year, a Takeda spokesperson told Endpoints News. No further details were shared about the timeline and which roles will be affected. Takeda is the latest biopharma to announce four-digit layoffs, following Novo Nordisk’s September 2025 decision to cut 9,000 jobs and Merck’s July announcement targeting 6,000 positions. Bayer CEO Bill Anderson confirmed this month that it’s made 14,000 reductions as part of a broader restructuring. Takeda’s outgoing CEO Christophe Weber laid out plans in 2024 to simplify the company’s structure, remove layers and broaden roles. Incoming CEO Julie Kim also cited efficiency as a priority as she prepares to take the reins in June. Going forward, Takeda said it would prioritize resources to advance its late-stage pipeline, including three products that Kim hopes will be blockbusters: the narcolepsy drug oveporexton, the blood cancer drug rusfertide, and a plaque psoriasis drug called zasocitinib. The FDA is currently mulling applications for oveporexton and rusfertide, with decisions expected in the third quarter of the calendar year. Meanwhile, Takeda made a handful of pipeline cuts last quarter, including a Phase 1 program for nausea and vomiting called TAK-004 and a Phase 2b program for the enzyme replacement therapy TAK-755 in immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. The Japanese pharma cited strategic reasons for both cuts. Takeda also returned the rights for a frontotemporal dementia candidate called TAK-594 to Denali after severing the partnership . The company is also discontinuing a booster program for its dengue vaccine Qdenga after data suggested additional dosing wasn’t needed for sustained protection.

At the start of 2022, Takeda was developing three peptide agonists in nausea and vomiting.\n Takeda has ended development of its nausea and vomiting drug candidate for strategic reasons, continuing its multi-year struggles in the therapeutic area. The nausea and vomiting prospect, TAK-004, completed a phase 1 trial last year. Takeda ran the study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the investigational peptide agonist while evaluating its effect on the heart rate and blood pressure of healthy adults. The Japanese drugmaker named assessing whether TAK-004 causes an immune response as another objective of the trial.Takeda removed (PDF) the drug candidate from its pipeline as part of its fourth-quarter results, telling investors that it ended TAK-004 development “due to strategic consideration.” The company’s strategy has veered away from nausea and vomiting in recent years.At the start of 2022, Takeda was developing (PDF) three peptide agonists—TAK-105, TAK-510 and TAK-951—in nausea and vomiting, plus its gastroparesis candidate TAK-906. Takeda stopped (PDF) work on the treatment for gastroparesis, a condition associated with nausea and vomiting, early in 2022 in response to phase 2b data. The drugmaker ended (PDF) development of TAK-510 in late 2022 after concluding that the phase 1 data didn’t support further trials. Takeda reached (PDF) the same conclusion about TAK-105 in 2023. Work on the phase 2 candidate TAK-951 continued into 2024. However, in May 2024, Takeda axed the program after the clinical data failed to support further development. The removal of TAK-951 from the pipeline left Takeda without a program targeting nausea and vomiting for the first time in years. Takeda moved (PDF) TAK-004 into human testing in late 2024, re-entering nausea and vomiting clinical development, but the candidate had the same fate as its predecessors. Takeda continues \"to have interest in nausea and vomiting where we see meaningful unmet need,\" a spokesperson said via email.The drugmaker disclosed the discontinuation of TAK-004 development alongside other pipeline updates. The Japanese pharma removed the 5% formulation of TAK-961, its late-phase autoimmune encephalitis candidate, from the pipeline but still plans to seek approval for the 10% product. Data on the 5% formulation will support approval filings for the 10% product, the company said.Takeda removed the Denali Therapeutics-partnered frontotemporal dementia candidate, TAK-594, from its pipeline after ending its alliance with the biotech. The other updates affected approved products, with Takeda ending a booster program for its dengue vaccine Qdenga in light of durability data and axing a proposed indication for the enzyme replacement therapy Adzynma for strategic reasons.