Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's third largest pharma company, is on the prowl for new biotech acquisitions in Europe that can help advance its cancer research work. And the hungry pharma player has also budgeted $5 billion to add to its portfolio of heart therapies and penetrate new markets.
Daiichi Sankyo's head of European operations, Reinhard Bauer, tells Bloomberg that his group has been sizing up new acquisitions that would be similar to its buyout of U3 Pharma. Daiichi Sankyo paid €150 million for the company and gained two experimental cancer drugs in the bargain. The Japanese pharma company considered bidding on Switzerland's Nycomed and Solvay in Belgium but decided to pass.
"We have looked at the development projects and the pipeline of these companies, but they do not really have a synergy with our business focus of oncology or cardiology," Bauer said.
- read the report from Bloomberg