Latest news with #TakedaPharmaceuticalCo.
Boston Globe
03-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
AI drug startup touts promising advance in treating lung disease
'This is one of the best results people have ever seen' for the lung condition, Insilico Chief Executive Officer Alex Zhavoronkov said in an interview. The promise of AI to make drug discovery more efficient has inspired billions of dollars in investment from large drugmakers and startups alike. While some have made progress with drugs selected or optimized by AI – with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. aiming to launch one such drug within the next two years – early efforts to conceive and design treatments using AI have largely fallen short. Advertisement Plans are still being formulated for larger trials needed to substantiate rentosertib's effect and pave the way for regulatory approval, which is at least two years away under the best-case scenario. Zhavoronkov said Insilico has the funding for the trials, but needs to collect feedback from both regulators and potential pharma partners before deciding on the path forward. Advertisement The data will serve as a demo for Insilico's 30-plus programs, and help improve its AI model, he said. But data on some other metrics were inconclusive. Plus, the study enrolled only 71 patients, all in China, and ran for just 12 weeks. A few patients taking the drug saw their condition get worse, and several others developed liver injury, which Insilico researchers said will need to be watched in future trials. Zhavoronkov believes the side effects are manageable and the drug is 'reasonably safe' given it tackles a serious and deadly disease. By his estimates, it takes 4.5 years to deliver a drug candidate ready for clinical trials using traditional methods. With rentosertib, the timeline was 18 months. It will take much longer to prove the drug works in humans. Insilico is running a parallel mid-stage study in the US, and will continue to explore clinical trials in both China and the US. 'The speed of traffic is the same for everybody,' he said. Founded in 2013 to provide soup-to-nuts solutions, from disease hypothesis and drug optimization to preclinical testing, Insilico recently filed to list in Hong Kong.
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Business Standard
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Donald Trump seeks to align US drug costs with cheapest ones abroad
The US government already negotiates prices for some of the highest-cost medicines used in Medicare health insurance under the Inflation Reduction Act Bloomberg By Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Derek Wallbank and Hadriana Lowenkron President Donald Trump said he plans to order a cut in US prescription drug costs by mandating that Americans pay no more than people in countries that have the lowest price. Trump said in a social media post that he'll sign the executive order at 9 a.m. Monday in Washington. While predicting that pharmaceutical prices could drop 30% to 80% in the US, Trump also said prices would likely 'rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!' He said he'll institute what he called a most-favored nation policy 'whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.' Healthcare costs in the US 'will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,' he said. Asian pharmaceutical companies fell in early Monday trading. Japanese drugmaker Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. dropped as much as 7.2%, the most in a month, with peers Daiichi Sankyo Co. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. losing around 5%. In South Korea, SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Celltrion Inc. and Samsung Biologics Co. all fell over 3%. The news also weighed on Chinese drugmakers. Among companies with commercial drugs in both the US and China, Hong Kong-listed shares of BeiGene Ltd fell as much as 8.8% while Hutchmed China Ltd dropped 5.6%. Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co., China's largest pharma company, also saw its shares fall as much as 4.4% despite not currently marketing any medicines in the US. Americans pay the most in the world for medicines, fueling innovation and driving the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Drugmakers have said revamping the system will slash revenue and stifle the development of breakthrough therapies that have the potential to lengthen and improve lives. Trump cited the industry's argument, but said it meant that 'the 'suckers' of America' ended up bearing those costs 'for no reason whatsoever.' The US government already negotiates prices for some of the highest-cost medicines used in Medicare health insurance under the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, with more slated to be added every year. The first two rounds of drug price negotiations haven't included physician-administered drugs, but the next round might. Trump's Truth Social post — preceded by an earlier one that promised 'one of the most important and impactful' posts he has ever issued — didn't detail how the order would work. He also didn't specify potential limits on the policy, such as whether it would apply only to government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid, if it would be limited to certain drugs or categories of drugs or if the White House sees a way to apply this more broadly. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman suggested Trump might have been inspired by an idea he floated on X in March, when he said the best way to reduce US drug prices 'is to make it illegal for drug companies to sell the same drugs abroad for lower prices than they sell them for here.' In his first term, Trump proposed a Medicare pilot program for drugs with no low-cost generic competition that are given in doctor's offices, saying he wanted to bring prices in line with countries like France and Japan where they cost dramatically less. That plan, which would have phased in over three years, aimed to ensure Medicare paid the lowest price offered to a group of 22 nations. The effort was struck down in federal court after drug companies challenged it, claiming the administration hadn't properly carried out the rulemaking process. The Biden administration didn't appeal that finding, and instead pursued legislation that led to the Inflation Reduction Act.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (TAK) Upgraded to Strong Buy: Here's What You Should Know
Investors might want to bet on Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (TAK), as it has been recently upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). This upgrade primarily reflects an upward trend in earnings estimates, which is one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices. A company's changing earnings picture is at the core of the Zacks rating. The system tracks the Zacks Consensus Estimate -- the consensus measure of EPS estimates from the sell-side analysts covering the stock -- for the current and following years. Individual investors often find it hard to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts, since these are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time. In these situations, the Zacks rating system comes in handy because of the power of a changing earnings picture in determining near-term stock price movements. As such, the Zacks rating upgrade for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. is essentially a positive comment on its earnings outlook that could have a favorable impact on its stock price. Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock Prices The change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, and the near-term price movement of its stock are proven to be strongly correlated. That's partly because of the influence of institutional investors that use earnings and earnings estimates for calculating the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their bulk investment action then leads to price movement for the stock. Fundamentally speaking, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. imply an improvement in the company's underlying business. Investors should show their appreciation for this improving business trend by pushing the stock higher. Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions Empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, so it could be truly rewarding if such revisions are tracked for making an investment decision. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>.
02-05-2025
- Automotive
INTERVIEW: Slovakia Hopes Mutual Business Advances with Japan
News from Japan Society May 2, 2025 19:08 (JST) Tokyo, May 2 (Jiji Press)--Slovakia hopes for more investment from Japanese companies while asking Slovak firms to perform more actively in Japan, Slovak Ambassador to Japan Ivan Surkos said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. With a population of some 5.5 million, Slovakia is located in central Europe, bordered to the east by Ukraine and to the west by Austria. Similar to Japan, the motor industry is its main one with annual production of about one million units. Its per-capita output leads the world. Major global automakers except Japanese ones have put production bases in Slovakia, including Volkswagen AG of Germany. South Korean companies have actively advanced and invested more in the country than their Japanese rivals. "I will have to say that Korean companies are very, very active in Slovakia," the ambassador explained, noting there are "six times more investments from Korea than from Japan" totaling about 6 billion euros a year. When it comes to Japanese investment, Surkos praised Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for having set up an information technology business foothold and bearing maker for having established a production base and a research and development hub. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. man gets prison time for defrauding Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. of $2.3M
A Massachusetts man who, along with his girlfriend, defrauded Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. of $2.3 million and used the money to buy luxury items and a $1.9 million luxury condo in Boston's Seaport District, will spend time in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney said Monday. Samuel N. Montronde, 39, of Brockton, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV handed down his sentence. Montronde was also ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution. In December, Montronde was convicted of three counts of wire fraud by a federal jury in Boston. The jury acquitted Montronde of one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Montronde was arrested and charged in January 2023 along with his girlfriend, Priya Bhambi of Brookline, a former senior employee in the technology operations group of Takeda, for setting up a fake consulting company that billed Takeda for services it never actually provided, Foley said. The two were later indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2023. The couple used the money it defrauded from Takeda to buy a Mercedes-Benz Model Class E, a diamond engagement ring, freightliner trucks, a $1.9-million 2-bedroom condo in Boston's Seaport District and a $50,000 wedding venue deposit, prosecutors said. These assets are now subject to the court's forfeiture order. In October 2024, Bhambi was sentenced to 46 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Bhambi was also ordered to pay $2,585,480 in restitution. In 2022, Montronde and Bhambi orchestrated and executed a scheme to defraud Takeda of at least $2.3 million in payments 'for purported consulting services by submitting fabricated invoices on behalf of a sham consulting company,' Foley said. Prosecutors said Bhambi had previously engaged in the same fraud using a different sham consulting company, resulting in payments from Takeda totaling nearly $300,000 for consulting services that were never provided. In February 2022, Montronde and Bhambi incorporated a sham consulting company, Evoluzione Consulting LLC. Later, prosecutors said Bhambi created a website for Evoluzione with false information, including fabricated blog posts, to make it appear that Evoluzione was a legitimate consulting business. After incorporating Evoluzione, Bhambi, in coordination with Montronde, submitted a statement of work to Takeda, resulting in Takeda signing a master services agreement with Evoluzione. Bhambi issued a purchase order to Evoluzione for consulting services with a total cost of $3.542 million, prosecutors said. Then, between March and May of 2022, Bhambi and Montronde fabricated and submitted five separate invoices to Takeda for services that Evoluzione had not performed, each in the amount of $460,000, prosecutors said. The couple also created a fictional employee, 'Jasmine,' to handle communications with Takeda, prosecutors said. 'When questioned by Takeda employees, Bhambi made false representations regarding the services purportedly provided by Evoluzione,' the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its statement Monday. 'Before discovering the scheme and terminating Bhambi, Takeda, relying on these false representations, paid all five of the invoices to business accounts opened by Montronde in the name of Evoluzione.' In total, Bhambi and Montronde defrauded Takeda of $2.3 million in payments to Evoluzione for services not provided, prosecutors said. Foley and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement on Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie Wright and Mackenzie Queenin of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Head, Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit, is handling the forfeiture matter. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
