Take­da inks a pair of sales to No­var­tis and J&J for up to $5.7B, hand­ing over 485 staffers

The buzz about No­var­tis’ lat­est buy­out deal was right, most­ly.

On Wednes­day evening the phar­ma gi­ant put out word that it snagged Take­da’s dry eye drug Xi­idra — which the Japan­ese com­pa­ny swooped up in its Shire ac­qui­si­tion — for $3.4 bil­lion cash, with an­oth­er $1.9 bil­lion in mile­stones on the ta­ble. As part of the deal, No­var­tis is tak­ing on 400 staffers who are work­ing on the drug, re­duc­ing more of the burn that Take­da took on in the Shire buy­out.

But that’s not all.

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