Latest news with #TakedaPharmaceuticalCompanyLimited
Japan Forward
2 days ago
- Business
- Japan Forward
AI Tool 'KIBIT': A Game Changer in New Drug Development
このページを 日本語 で読む The COVID-19 pandemic reminded the world of the importance of drug discovery. However, modern drug discoveries require massive financial investment. Meanwhile, the use of artificial intelligence for AI drug discovery is gaining attention as a way to control soaring pharmaceutical prices. And a Japanese-made AI tool named 'KIBIT' is about to open up a new stage in this field. President Donald Trump issued executive orders in April and May mandating the reduction of domestic drug prices in the United States. Accompanying White House fact sheets refer to the high cost Americans pay for prescriptions, which is 2.78 times higher than the OECD average. Prescription costs are also 3.47 times higher than in Japan. Trump sees these high costs to consumers as a serious issue. In Japan, a national drug pricing system sets medication prices, enabling access to affordable treatments due to governmental oversight. In contrast, US pharmaceutical companies can set prices freely. This often results in higher charges than in other countries. Following his May 12 executive order, Trump stated that his orders would cut prices by 59% to as much as 90% to align with the levels of other countries. This could potentially result in significant revenue losses for the pharmaceutical industry. In the case of Japan, major pharmaceutical companies such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Astellas Pharma Inc earn over 30% of their revenue from the US. According to his comments, the President could impose additional tariffs on foreign-manufactured drugs if prices are not reduced. In the search for new drugs and treatments (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) One major reason for rising drug prices is the increasing cost of research and development. The average R&D spending by Japanese pharmaceutical companies rose from ¥30.2 billion JPY ($298.7 million USD) in 1993 to 163.3 billion ($1.13 billion) in 2019 — a 5.4-fold increase over 26 years. US companies saw an even sharper rise, from $841 million (¥121.1 billion) to $7.449 billion (¥1.0725 trillion). That marked an 8.8-fold increase. Moreover, investing in R&D doesn't guarantee success. The probability of developing a successful drug in Japan dropped from 1 in 13,000 two decades ago to 1 in 23,000 recently. Despite the increasing costs, results are scarce. Consequently, the R&D-to-revenue ratio rose from about 10% in 1993 to around 18% in 2019 in both countries. Introducing KIBIT. (Screenshot ©FRONTEO Inc) AI is being eyed as a solution to reduce R&D costs by dramatically cutting time and expenses. Drug development involves four stages: Basic research & target identification Compound optimization Preclinical trials and Clinical trials. Many AI vendors are involved in drug discovery. In particular, they focus on reducing costs in the third (preclinical) and fourth (clinical) stages. However, most companies have yet to tackle the critical first stage — target identification. Introducing KIBIT. (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) The first enterprise to address this initial stage is the Japanese company FRONTEO. Utilizing its proprietary natural language processing AI engine KIBIT, the company analyzes vast medical and pharmaceutical literature to generate innovative drug ideas that researchers may not have considered. Human thinking is inherently biased. The more experienced a researcher is, the more difficult it becomes to identify novel molecular targets. Stated another way, the bias of experience often blocks new ideas. KIBIT, however, is free from such biases. It identifies new molecular targets that might be effective against specific diseases. To do so, it analyzes vast amounts of academic literature. It can even derive specific hypotheses. Furthermore, KIBIT can identify and suggest highly disease-relevant target molecules that are not explicitly mentioned in the literature. This significantly enhances drug discovery potential. How KIBIT works. (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) Only a few countries have the capacity to develop new drugs. In 2024, among newly approved pharmaceuticals in Japan, the US, and Europe, the US led with 143 products. Japan followed with just 12, roughly equal to the United Kingdom's 10. According to the statistics "Nationalities of companies creating the top 100 drugs in the world by sales (2022),": United States – 52 United Kingdom – 10 Switzerland – 9 Germany – 8 Denmark – 8 Japan – 7 Most countries, other than the US, struggle to produce blockbuster drugs. In this context, hopes are high for FRONTEO's KIBIT. If it can consistently generate innovative new drugs efficiently, it may help deliver affordable medicines to those in need, without Mr Trump's intervention. FRONTEO's AI drug discovery service, utilizing KIBIT, is already being adopted by several major pharmaceutical companies. Those leveraging KIBIT to create new drugs could become game changers in the industry. This article is contributed by FRONTEO Inc, a supporting member of JAPAN Forward. (Read the report in Japanese.) Author: FRONTEO Inc. このページを 日本語 で読む
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TAK) the Best Low Price Pharma Stock to Invest In Right Now?
We recently compiled a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK) stands against the other pharma stocks. Healthcare, which includes numerous businesses that offer patient care, conduct research and development of novel treatments, and design, produce, and distribute diagnostic tools and tests, takes the term "defensive" a step further than practically any other industry. Improvements in medical technology, medications, and therapeutic approaches have changed the course of patient care. As the need for quick results has grown, pharmaceutical corporations in particular have drawn much attention. Global pharmaceutical manufacturing was estimated to be worth $516.48 billion in 2022, according to a Grand View Research analysis. From 2023 to 2030, the industry is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.63%. The biopharma industry now has the most extensive and varied clinical pipeline to date, thanks to decades of groundbreaking research. In 2012, there were 3,200 distinct medications under development; by 2022, that number had nearly doubled to 6,100. The average cost of producing a single treatment is over $1 billion, while just 14% of medications in clinical trials reach FDA clearance, according to MIT research. This could be a game-changer for AI. For instance, generative AI helps identify illness patterns in large data sets to determine the optimal medicine combinations while enabling researchers to investigate far more possible compounds than they could with conventional techniques. Additionally, according to PwC, AI-driven analytics and automation could cut operational costs by more than 30% and process timeframes by 60–70%. In a similar vein, the market has grown significantly due to consumer interest in weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. According to a recent study in the scientific journal Addiction, GLP-1 medications may reduce the prevalence of alcohol and opioid addiction by as much as 50%. Additionally, these medications are being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease and other disorders that are frequently associated with obesity. The development of GLP-1s is becoming crucial for pharmaceutical businesses that want to be leaders in fields like cardiovascular and renal health. Competition with the leading companies in the anti-obesity business, which is expected to grow to $130 billion by 2030, is no longer the main emphasis. The possibility for additional participants to enter the field is growing along with the possible applications of GLP-1s. For example, the Swiss business Roche entered the weight-loss drug sweepstakes last year when it paid up to $3.1 billion to acquire California-based Carmot Therapeutics. The corporation wants to "fast-track" its anti-obesity medicines to regain faith in its pipeline and take a share of the weight-loss market. The pharmaceutical sector may appear to be flourishing at first glance. However, it has its own set of difficulties, just like every other industry. Compared to 2021, funding for biotech and pharmaceuticals fell by a sharp 48.6% last year. In 2022, the IPO market also saw a significant decline, with profits falling as a result of market volatility and instability. Many general investors were apprehensive of the spike in drug-developer initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2020 and 2021, which garnered about $46.5 billion, more than the total from the preceding eight years combined. Future initial public offerings (IPOs) are being closely watched due to the high-risk, high-reward nature of the biotech sector as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical issues that impact larger markets. However, as of September 3, drug developers had raised $2 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, a 24% increase over the same period in 2023. However, according to BNN Bloomberg, over two-thirds of these funds were raised in the first two months as a result of a spike in new listings. However, pharma companies' portion of U.S. IPO profits has decreased from 17% in February to 6.5%, with less than $800 million raised in the next six months. Tim Hunt, CEO of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), emphasized increased funding in cell and gene therapies in 2024 in his opening remarks at the October 7 conference. Thirteen of the fifteen biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world by market capitalization, he said, now have an "active presence" in this area. Major pharmaceutical corporations are increasingly turning to cell and gene therapies to fill possible revenue shortages as many product patents are about to expire. Despite this enthusiasm, there has been a reduction in related patent filings, and the number of cell and gene therapy deals in the pharmaceutical industry fell by 38% in Q2 2024 compared to the same time in 2023. Nevertheless, the sector is appealing and should not be disregarded by investors. Our methodology involved selecting pharmaceutical sector stocks with a market capitalization exceeding $2 billion and a share price below $20. We then identified the stocks with the lowest share prices and verified their last closing prices using Yahoo Finance. Finally, we ranked these stocks in ascending order based on their closing price as of February 21st. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). A scientist studying a DNA sample under a microscope in a laboratory. Share Price as of the Close of February 21: $14.06 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK) is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing, and selling medications and medical devices across key therapeutic areas such as oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, gastroenterology, plasma-derived therapies, and vaccines. The company prioritizes research and development to create transformative treatments for unmet medical needs, with notable products like ENTYVIO for gastrointestinal disorders and ADYNOVI for hemophilia in its portfolio. A 2.5% increase in revenues to JPY 4,590.0 billion is anticipated by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK) in its fiscal year 2024 financial forecast because of favorable foreign exchange rates, robust company expansion, and slower generic erosion of VYVANSE in the US. Operating profit is predicted to increase by 29.8% to JPY 344 billion, while net profit is predicted to increase by 73.5% to JPY 118 billion. According to Insider Monkey's Q4 database, 16 hedge funds were bullish on Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK), an increase from 12 funds in the last quarter. It stands tenth among Best Low Price Pharma Stocks. Overall TAK ranks 10th on our list of the best low price pharma stocks to invest in right now. While we acknowledge the potential of TAK as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TAK but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TAK) the Best Japanese Stock to Buy in 2025?
We recently compiled a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK) stands against the other Japanese stocks. As the dangers of natural disasters increase and the expenses of social security continue to rise, the International Monetary Fund says Japan has to take quick action to strengthen its fiscal situation. The IMF's warning comes as Japan increases spending to meet a wide range of requirements, from initiatives to improve the birth rate to strengthening national security. This occurs concurrently with its borrowing costs gradually increasing due to rate rises by the Bank of Japan in the past year. Japan already has the highest amount of public debt of any major country. According to a Finance Ministry estimate released this January, the nation's debt payment expenses are expected to increase by 25% by fiscal year 2028 compared to the previous year, assuming a 3% annual economic growth rate and 2% inflation. Overall, the IMF forecasts that Japan's public debt will be 232.7% of GDP this year. In addition, at its January 24 meeting, the Bank of Japan voted to boost interest rates to 0.50%, the highest level in seventeen years. The current approach comes after decades of the BOJ's efforts to normalize interest rates. Despite the increasing balance sheet risk, the bank may be pushed to hike interest rates further if it observes a "virtuous cycle" of rising prices and rising wages, with board member Naoki Tamura stating that raising short-term interest rates to "at least around 1%" by the second half of fiscal year 2025 is "necessary". According to a Statistics Bureau of Japan estimate, average household expenditure in Japan in December was 352,633 yen ($2,332), up 7% in nominal terms from the previous year. In addition, Reuters revealed that Japanese household spending rose year-over-year in December 2024 for the first time in five months, and at a far faster rate than expected. However, the Japanese government notes that it was premature to call a bottoming out in the decreasing trend in consumption. Consumer expenditure also grew 2.7% in the same month compared to the previous year, above the median market forecast of 0.5% growth. The current environment around Japanese markets is one of concern and relief, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Trump's threats to impose retaliatory tariffs on "everyone" have served as a harsh reminder of the dangers that all of America's trading partners, including Japan, face. With Trump aiming to reduce his country's trade imbalance with Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged to purchase more American LNG and disclosed plans for manufacturers such as Toyota and Isuzu Motors to invest more in the United States at their summit meeting on February 7. Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier in Singapore, had the following to say about the meeting: "The friendly tone and substance of the summit, especially in regard to Japan's high profile investment in the U.S. steel sector, should provide a modest relief to Japanese investors.' For this list, we compiled a list of US-listed Japanese stocks using stock screeners. We then chose the best Japanese stocks based on overall hedge fund sentiment toward each stock. We have assessed the hedge fund sentiment from Insider Monkey's database of 900 elite hedge funds tracked as of the end of the third quarter of 2024. The list is arranged in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders in each company. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). A scientist studying a DNA sample under a microscope in a laboratory. Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 12 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK), a global pharmaceutical firm, conducts research, development, manufacturing, marketing, and out-licensing of pharmaceutical products. The company focuses on a wide range of therapeutic areas, including cancer, uncommon illnesses, and gastrointestinal. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK) has upgraded its fiscal year 2024 financial estimate, anticipating a 2.5% increase in revenues to JPY 4,590.0 billion on account of favorable foreign exchange rates, strong business growth, and slower generic erosion of VYVANSE in the United States. It is expected that net profit will improve by 73.5% to JPY 118 billion while operating profit will rise by 29.8% to JPY 344 billion. According to Insider Monkey's Q3 database, 12 hedge funds were bullish on Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (NYSE:TAK), an increase from 10 funds in the last quarter. Israel Englander's Millennium Management is the leading stakeholder of the company. Overall TAK ranks 6th on our list of the best Japanese stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of TAK as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TAK but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Zawya
05-02-2025
- Health
- Zawya
VillageReach Commences Program to Strengthen Epidemic Preparedness and Response Across Africa
VillageReach ( announces the launch of a program funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to enhance laboratory sample referral and transportation systems for epidemic-prone infectious diseases across Africa. This initiative, which commenced in January 2025, will strengthen health systems in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. The program addresses critical barriers to diagnosing infectious diseases such as polio, measles, yellow fever, Ebola, mpox and cholera by improving sample transport systems, ensuring faster diagnoses, timely responses and saving lives in hard-to-reach communities. Emily Bancroft, CEO and President of VillageReach, highlighted the significance of this work: "As we begin this critical work, we are reminded of the urgent need for robust primary health care systems that can respond swiftly to outbreaks. This program with Takeda enables us to work alongside governments to build infrastructure that not only saves lives but also enhances epidemic preparedness across the region." The program, known as Integrated Laboratory Transport Systems to Stop Outbreaks, focuses on strengthening epidemic preparedness and response. It aims to enhance the efficiency and integration of laboratory sample transport systems for epidemic-prone diseases while ensuring the quality and integrity of samples during transit, enabling accurate and timely diagnoses. The program addresses surges in laboratory sample transportation demand, facilitates community engagement and provides targeted training for health workers and transporters to further bolster outbreak responses. These measures will help contain outbreaks swiftly and reliably, reducing their impact on vulnerable populations. The goal of the program is for all participating countries to digitize and integrate electronic reporting systems, improving data availability on sample movements and laboratory results. Additionally, the initiative will strengthen notification systems and establish patient feedback mechanisms, fostering more responsive and resilient health care systems. Project Activities Across the Five Countries In the DRC, VillageReach will improve transport networks and routes to national and regional laboratories for patient samples originating in 11 provinces, train 3,500 community leaders on crisis communication during outbreaks, and train health workers and local private transporters in biosafety and biosecurity, sample collection, packaging, transport and reporting. In Malawi, VillageReach will expand on-demand transportation beyond polio and measles samples to other outbreak-prone diseases in all 800+ health facilities and train 400 community health workers to enhance outbreak detection and response. In Guinea, our in-country implementing partner, FHI 360 will work with the Ministry of Health to manage sample transport for all infectious diseases through a countrywide network of private local transporters using motorcycles, boats, minibuses and flights; the sample movements are captured in a web and app-based data management system, which was locally developed. In Tanzania, health care workers and local governments in regions affected by recurring outbreaks of cholera and measles will receive targeted training alongside efforts to engage traditional healers, influential people and local leaders to promote awareness and enhance the transportation of samples during disease outbreaks. This work will be done in collaboration with our partner organization CIHEB-Tanzania. Additionally, VillageReach will help train hotline workers at the national health call center to provide advice to the population on outbreak-prone diseases. In Uganda, VillageReach will partner with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI). The initiative aims to increase the frequency of infectious disease sample pickups as part of the integrated National Lab Sample Transport System and train community health teams in 45 outbreak-prone districts in biosafety and early outbreak detection. Four countries will also be using real-time GPS and remote temperature monitoring (RTM) trackers during the transport of samples, to ensure the quality and integrity of samples and their timely arrival at the labs. This program builds upon VillageReach's Polio Lab Sample Transport Program in 15 African countries, which has been ongoing since 2022 in collaboration with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. It is part of Takeda's Global CSR Program, which committed approximately $8 million over four years to these five countries. VillageReach's work is expected to impact 116,000 people directly and millions indirectly through better disease detection and surveillance systems. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VillageReach. For more information, please contact: Kat Tillman Director, Communications media@ About VillageReach: VillageReach ( transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. We are driven by a vision of a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive. We work with governments, the private sector, partners and communities to build responsive primary health care systems that deliver health products, information and services to the most under-reached. About Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI): The UVRI ( engages in health research pertaining to human infections and disease processes associated with or linked to viral aetiology and provides expert advice, enables partnerships and communication and serves as a center for training and education. About FHI 360: FHI 360 ( is a global organization that mobilizes research, resources and relationships so people everywhere have access to the opportunities they need to lead full and healthy lives. With collaborations in over 60 countries, we work directly with local leaders to advance social and economic equity, improve health and well-being, respond to humanitarian crises and strengthen community resilience. We share data-driven insights and scalable tools that expand access and equity so communities can effectively address complex challenges, respond to shocks and achieve thriving futures. To learn more, visit About CIHEB Tanzania: Ciheb Tanzania ( is a local-registered and led not-for-profit organization formed out of the University of Maryland Baltimore's (UMB) Tanzania programs.
