Zasocitinib

Takeda will cut roughly 9% of its workforce over the next fiscal year as the next CEO puts her stamp on a yearslong restructuring. About 4,500 roles will be affected, the company said Wednesday in its fourth-quarter earnings presentation. That figure doesn’t account for hiring plans, including 2,200 roles that are currently open and new jobs that will be created throughout the year, a Takeda spokesperson told Endpoints News. No further details were shared about the timeline and which roles will be affected. Takeda is the latest biopharma to announce four-digit layoffs, following Novo Nordisk’s September 2025 decision to cut 9,000 jobs and Merck’s July announcement targeting 6,000 positions. Bayer CEO Bill Anderson confirmed this month that it’s made 14,000 reductions as part of a broader restructuring. Takeda’s outgoing CEO Christophe Weber laid out plans in 2024 to simplify the company’s structure, remove layers and broaden roles. Incoming CEO Julie Kim also cited efficiency as a priority as she prepares to take the reins in June. Going forward, Takeda said it would prioritize resources to advance its late-stage pipeline, including three products that Kim hopes will be blockbusters: the narcolepsy drug oveporexton, the blood cancer drug rusfertide, and a plaque psoriasis drug called zasocitinib. The FDA is currently mulling applications for oveporexton and rusfertide, with decisions expected in the third quarter of the calendar year. Meanwhile, Takeda made a handful of pipeline cuts last quarter, including a Phase 1 program for nausea and vomiting called TAK-004 and a Phase 2b program for the enzyme replacement therapy TAK-755 in immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. The Japanese pharma cited strategic reasons for both cuts. Takeda also returned the rights for a frontotemporal dementia candidate called TAK-594 to Denali after severing the partnership . The company is also discontinuing a booster program for its dengue vaccine Qdenga after data suggested additional dosing wasn’t needed for sustained protection.

Takeda was among the biggest pharma downsizers in the first quarter and had already warned that more cuts were coming.Now, the Japanese drugmaker has detailed a new "transformation programme" expected to affect roughly 4500 roles in fiscal 2026 as it looks to centralise corporate functions, trim management layers and simplify operations.The restructuring, unveiled during Takeda's quarterly earnings presentation on Wednesday, is projected to generate more than JPY 200 billion ($1.3 billion) in annualised savings by fiscal 2028. The company will book roughly JPY 170 billion in restructuring charges along the way, but expects to pocket around JPY 100 billion in savings this year alone.The move follows a steady stream of Takeda layoffs since it undertook an enterprise-wide restructuring programme about two years ago. Earlier this year, it disclosed plans to eliminate 634 positions in the US, including 247 jobs in Massachusetts and another 387 roles spread across other states.The cuts came less than six months after Takeda axed 137 jobs tied to its withdrawal from cell therapy development. Those reductions followed an even larger wave in 2024, when the company cut nearly 1000 positions in Massachusetts alone.'New era'"Based on my leadership team, we've updated the organisational structure to transform the company for accelerated speed and growth," said CEO-elect Julie Kim, who takes the reins from Christophe Weber in June, during the company's earnings call. "This has included reducing layers to bring teams closer to patients and customers, centralising and streamlining corporate functions, and driving greater efficiency through data, technology, and AI."Share added, "In addition to our Takeda executive team, our broader governance structure…provides a strong and stable foundation for this new era."Eye on trio of launchesTakeda said savings from the restructuring will be reinvested to help support a trio of upcoming launches; namely, oveporexton (TAK-861), which could hit the market in the second half as the first orexin agonist approved for narcolepsy type 1 if the FDA signs off on it in the third quarter; rusfertide, a potential first‑in‑class hepcidin mimetic for polycythemia vera that is also awaiting an FDA decision and possible launch next half; and zasocitinib, an oral TYK2 inhibitor for psoriasis that Takeda is planning to file this year for a possible commercial debut in the first half of 2027.Kim said that "the convergence of these catalysts offers a timely opportunity to lay out the path forward for our next chapter of growth," which will come in two stages.The first — referred to as "Horizon One" — has a two- three-year timeframe and centres on establishing oveporexton, rusfertide and zasocitinib as the company's growth drivers. "Horizon Two" will focus on accelerating that growth. This is where the company will be "shifting from our maturing portfolio to a new cohort of blockbuster brands…by scaling our first wave of launches while preparing for and executing the launch of our next wave of late-stage assets," Kim said.Pipeline pruningSome assets won't be going along for the ride, however. Takeda provided an update to its pipeline, including curtailing Phase I development of TAK-004 for nausea and vomiting "due to strategic consideration." The drug's fate mirrors that of a number of the company's nausea and vomiting candidates, such as TAK-105 and TAK-510, as well as TAK-906 in the associated condition of gastroparesis.The drugmaker also disclosed that it will stop Phase III work on the 5% formulation of TAK-961, also known as Glovenin-I, in autoimmune encephalitis. Takeda cited "portfolio/filing strategy" for the decision, noting that data on the formulation will support plans to seek approval of the 10% version of the immunoglobulin.The company also confirmed the removal of TAK-594 from its pipeline for frontotemporal dementia, having ended a co-development partnership with Denali Therapeutics earlier in the year.Looking ahead to the upcoming fiscal year ending March 2027, Takeda said it anticipates full-year revenues of JPY 4.64 trillion and profit of JPY 166 billion.-Matt Dennis contributed to this report.