By Takashi Umekawa
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (T:4502) boosted its annual operating profit outlook by a third after second-quarter earnings surged on strong global sales of its drugs for bowel disease and multiple myeloma.
It now expects to post 268.9 billion yen(1.87 billion pounds) in operating profit for the year ending in March, beating an average Refinitiv estimate of 222.7 billion yen from eight analysts.
Takeda is working to close a $62 billion acquisition of London-listed Shire (L:SHP). The upgraded forecast includes costs related to the acquisition incurred in the first half of the financial year but not costs from the latter half or projected earnings from Shire post-acquisition.
For the second-quarter, it booked an 86 percent rise in operating profit to 73.1 billion yen.
First-half sales figures showed sales of Entyvio, a treatment for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis that is Takeda's biggest selling drug, jumped 32.4 percent to 128.4 billion yen. Sales of Ninlaro, which treats multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, rose 35 percent.
Takeda has gained approval for the Shire deal, potentially the biggest-ever acquisition by a Japanese company, from U.S., Japan and China regulators but is still waiting for the nod from European authorities.
It has proposed selling a Shire Phase 3 inflammatory bowel disease drug to gain European approval for the deal and does not expect its talks with the European Commission will delay closure of the deal.
The Shire deal is aimed at strengthening Takeda's late-stage pipeline. According to Takeda, the rare disease specialist has seven drug candidates in Phase 3 clinical trials while the Japanese firm has only three.
Takeda, which had a market value of roughly $31 billion, has secured a $30.9 billion bridge loan to help finance the acquisition. But some analysts say they remained concerned about how well the company will cope with its debt repayments - most of which have to be made in a year.
($1 = 113.2000 yen)