Zasocitinib

The Japanese pharma is targeting 2026 revenues of 4.64 trillion Japanese yen ($29.4 billion). With a new CEO prepared to take the reins next month and three key launches on deck for 2026 and 2027, Takeda is ready to shake off the generic-related declines that have plagued revenues in recent years as it eyes a “new era” to be marked by growth acceleration, according to the Japanese pharma.However, several thousand employees won’t be entering the new chapter with the company. In its full-year earnings presentation (PDF) on May 13, Takeda filled in details on its 2026 “transformation program,” which looks to centralize corporate functions, reduce management layers and target process simplification.  The multiyear slim-down is expected to hit about 4,500 roles during the 2026 fiscal year, resulting in about 170 billion Japanese yen ($1.07 billion) in restructuring costs and some 100 billion yen ($633 million) in gross savings for 2026, the company said. More than 200 billion yen ($1.26 billion) in annualized savings is projected by 2028. Takeda recently telegraphed a round of job reductions in the U.S, affecting 634 roles assigned to the company’s U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of the $1.26 billion efficiency drive. The latest restructuring comes on the heels of 2024-2025’s “enterprise-wide efficiency program,” which saw over 4,000 positions impacted over the two years, Takeda noted. Takeda’s cost-savings push began in 2024, as revenues for its blockbuster attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder med Vyvanse rapidly declined in the face of generics swarming the market upon its patent expiration, a struggle that has haunted the organization since. With the company predicting last year that 2025 would be the last year of major generic headwinds to Vyvanse, Takeda is hoping that its three upcoming new launches will help put its Vyvanse-related sales woes in the rearview. In fiscal 2026, which ends in March 2027, the company anticipates full-year revenues of 4.64 trillion Japanese yen ($29.4 billion), reflecting “mature portfolio headwinds in a year that we pivot to new launches,” it explained in its presentation. The new launches include potential regulatory approvals for Takeda’s three leading late-stage assets in narcolepsy treatment oveporexton, polycythemia vera candidate rusfertide and psoriasis medicine zasocitinib. Oveporexton and rusfertide are both under priority review with the FDA and could see a U.S. commercial launch during the second half of 2026, while the company is making “decisive investments” to support a zasocitnib regulatory filing later this year. “We are very, very excited about these three launches, and we’re laser-focused on the execution,” CEO-Elect Julie Kim said on the company’s earnings conference call with investors. As the company zeroes in on transitioning to a “new cohort of blockbuster brands” that positions it for “long-term profitable growth and patient impact,” Kim said in a release, Takeda is outlining its metamorphosis in two phases. The first step, dubbed “Horizon One,” will see the company establish a trio of new growth drivers while ensuring the “resilience and competitiveness” of its core in-line brands. After that, “Horizon Two” will launch another wave of late-stage pipeline assets and maximize revenue from the first launches.Takeda enters its 2026 fiscal year with 684.5 billion yen ($4.3 billion) in free cash flow after collecting full-year 2025 revenues of 4.5 trillion yen ($28.3 billion) in a 1.7% year-over-year decline. Over half (51%) of the company’s yearly revenue came from its collection of growth and launch products, which includes blockbuster inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug Entyvio and hereditary angioedema (HAE) drug Takhzyro, among others.  Put together, the selection of growth products spread across the company’s six key business areas together earned 2.3 trillion Japanese yen ($14.5 billion) over the year, which “partially mitigated” the continued impacts of Vyvanse’s generic erosion. Vyvanse and other products impacted by patent expirations saw a pooled sales decline of 43% over the year, the company noted in its presentation. Takeda’s full-year 2025 earnings conference call was the last under longtime CEO Christophe Weber, who took over the pharma in 2015 after a 20-year career at GSK. Weber was the first non-Japanese CEO in the company’s over 200-year history and was credited with “building Takeda into the company it is today,” Kim said on the call. Kim, who joined Takeda in 2019, had headed up the company’s U.S. operations since 2022 and was selected as CEO as part of a “thoughtful and intentional” succession process, Weber noted.

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.