Join­ing a glob­al M&A spree, Astel­las re­serves $2B for a spate of new biotech ac­qui­si­tions

Astel­las is join­ing Take­da and a grow­ing pack of glob­al drug hunters in the M&A game.

Com­pa­ny ex­ecs are telling re­porters in Japan that they plan to spend close to $2 bil­lion over the next few years to snap up small biotechs and new drugs for its pipeline.

“Six­ty per­cent of our cash hold­ings (rough­ly 330 bil­lion yen) will be de­vot­ed to large-scale busi­ness in­vest­ments, es­pe­cial­ly in merg­ers and ac­quis­tions,” CFO Chikashi Take­da told Nikkei Asian Re­view.

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