Takeda's Global Ambition

Takeda Pharmaceutical's drug business started out manufacturing and selling bismuth-the basic ingredient in Pepto-Bismol--in 1895. A century later, it's still chained to the stomach-settling game with Prevacid, a $1.4 billion drug whose patent will expire in 2009, taking with it a huge percentage of Takeda's earnings. That's one big reason why Japan's largest and most international pharmaceutical company is on a US-focused dealmaking tear. Since February, Takeda has inked three major licensing partnerships and completed the largest acquisition in its history in a desperate attempt to shore up a thin pipeline.