With some American and British ancestry, Takeda Pharmaceutical corporation Limited is a worldwide pharmaceutical corporation based in Japan. After Sinopharm and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, it is the third-biggest pharmaceutical firm in Asia. Based on revenue, it is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies globally (it was in the top 10 after its merger with Shire). The corporation, which employs more than 49,578 people globally, brought in US$19.299 billion in sales in the 2018 fiscal year. The company's areas of expertise include neuroscience, gastrointestinal, oncology, uncommon disorders, plasma-derived medicines, and vaccinations. Its office is in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, and its headquarters are in Chuo-ku, Osaka.
Takeda purchased Amgen's Japanese business in February 2008 along with the rights to twelve of the California biotechnology company's pipeline candidates for the Japanese market. Takeda paid US$8.8 billion in April to acquire Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a business that specializes in cancer medication development. Velcade, a medication approved for hematological malignancies, and a portfolio of pipeline prospects in the therapeutic domains of cardiovascular, inflammatory, and cancer were acquired as part of the deal. Currently, Millennium functions as a stand-alone subsidiary. The firms formed a potentially long-term agreement in May when the company licensed the RNAi technology platform created by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals on a non-exclusive basis.