EU clears Takeda's Shire acquisition on divestment condition

The European Commission has cleared Takeda Pharmaceutical's £46bn acquisition of Shire, subject to the divestment of a bowel disease drug under development by Shire.

Following its investigation, which focused on biologic treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) where Shire and Takeda's activities overlap, the Commission found that a drug currently being developed by Shire would compete closely with Takeda's biologic treatment for IBD once it reaches the market.

As a result, Takeda has agreed to divest Shire's pipeline product, SHP647, including the rights to its development, manufacturing and marketing, to a purchaser that would have an incentive to develop the drug.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: "There are many diseases with only a limited number of effective and safe treatments. Inflammatory bowel disease is one such case. It is a lifelong condition with devastating effects on people's lives. Therefore, it is essential that companies continue developing promising new products to treat it.

"We can today approve the merger between Shire and Takeda, but only subject to the divestment of the product that Shire is developing to treat the disease and which could have been lost through the merger. This will preserve innovation in this market and, importantly, increase the choice of treatments for patients."

The acquisition, which is expected to complete in January 2019, remains subject to certain other conditions, including receipt of approval from Shire and Takeda shareholders.

At 1450 GMT, Shire shares were up 0.5% to 4,622p.