By Bruce Japsen | The looming decline in sales from the blockbuster diabetes drug Actos
figured into Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s decision Wednesday to slash
nearly 1,600 U.S. jobs — including hundreds in Chicago’s northern
suburbs.
Japan’s largest drug maker operates from its U.S. base in Deerfield
under the name Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc. It faces
competition in the next two years from upcoming generic versions of its
flagship product, the diabetes prescription Actos.
Meanwhile, the company’s revenue is falling after last year’s loss of patent protection for its former blockbuster drug Prevacid, a prescription heartburn pill. Prevacid now has dosages in cheaper generic and over-the-counter forms. Takeda said Prevacid sales for fiscal 2009 — which ran from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010 — were $1.2 billion, a 30 percent drop from the prior fiscal year. At one time, Prevacid sales raked in more than $3 billion annually.
Takeda said the loss of sales, plus challenges in its drug development pipeline, were key reasons the company needs to restructure — for example, Takeda had to do additional studies of an experimental diabetes drug known as alogliptin.
The company has 5,000 U.S. employees. Of those, 1,400 largely sales jobs, including 300 employees at the Deerfield home office on the Tri-State Tollway north of Chicago, will be cut. In addition, about 20 percent, or 170 of the 840 jobs at Takeda Global Research and Development Center Inc. in Lake Forest will also be eliminated as part of a restructuring.
“This will position us for success in 2010 and beyond so we can continue the important work of research and development in order to deliver important new treatments for unmet patient needs,” the company said in a statement issued this morning.
The moves come less than a month after Takeda said its top-selling brand-name diabetes drug, Actos, would be available in generic form in two years, under a settlement reached with several makers of generic drugs who are trying to bring a cheaper version to U.S. consumers.
Takeda has said it is “operating under the assumption that the entry of generic versions of Actos” will be by Aug. 17, 2012.
In addition to being Takeda’s biggest revenue producer, Actos is the nation’s top-selling brand-name diabetes drug. It was the eighth best-selling brand in 2009, generating $3.4 billion in U.S. sales, according to the most recent information available from the market.
I have a unique idea. Let’s bring all of those jobs back that we subsidized, in the 80’s and 90’s, to move over seas, to cheaper labor markets. Let’s rebuild our own manufacturing sector. It wasn’t the workers who moved those jobs overseas, nor, was it the worker, who scammed the citizenry of America, out of Trillions of Dollars. You can thank Wall Street for that disaster !!
“I have a unique idea. Let’s bring all of those jobs back that we subsidized, in the 80’s and 90’s, to move over seas, to cheaper labor markets” Good luck with that celticbarde. The Cognitive Elite will get all foamy at the mere suggestion of such a thing, since everyone knows in the New Economy actually making things is so passe. No, they will gnatter with amorphous drivel about “retraining for the 21st century jobs”. Press them hard for specifics on how many jobs, doing what, at what pay levels and have fun watching them get red faced while talking in more circles. They are all for “global” outsourcing so long as the dog of unbalanced free trade doesn’t take a dump on their front lawn. It’s perfectly ok if one of the “little people” becomes “right sized” though as this “lowers costs”. Of course, when the unemployment bills come due or reduced spending tanks local tax reciepts, that becomes “everyone’s” problem.
Hey guys – read the article again. This is a JAPANESE company with US operations. Aren’t you glad that they opened operations in our country and created the jobs in the first place?
There will be no jobs until further notice!
Matt is correct. celticbarde and Starstream880 must be either Japanese or are simply displaying ignorance in the extreme.
You think this is bad, wait for kerry’s climate bill. His bill is covering for all the manufacturing jobs which will be lost. According to the bill, if your job leaves for overseas you will get 3yrs of unemployment, free job re-training and relocation expenses to be paid by uncle sam.
You haven’t seen anything yet!!
That’s change I can believe in.
Takada is a great company that seemingly lacked a game plan to address what it would do when its diabetes drug’s patent expired. The fortress they built on Lake Cook and 294 will soon house the Zeke and Rahm Emanuel endowed Trotsky Chair of Social Thoughtlessness. There surely will be enough real estate for both the egos and the flesh.
The CEO of US operations, Alan Mackenzie, was indicted on 8 felony counts back in 2001 yet Takeda insisted on promoting the SOB. The loss of jobs is a direct result of this as well as many other missteps Takeda has made. They were takn in by Mackenzie and are now their US employees are paying the price.