Takeda reports sharp downturn if 1st-qtr FY2011 profits, as sales fall 6.4%; appoints international VPs

Japan's largest drugmaker, Takeda, posted financial results for the three months to June 30 for its first quarter of fiscal year 2011, that saw net sales fall 6.4% to 354.7 billion yen ($4.06 billion), with operating income down 14.6% to 107.26 billion yen, ordinary income 24.5% lower at 103.83 billion yen and net income plunging 43.1% to 64.11 billion yen, impacted by a strong yen and loss of patent protection f one top selling drug.

Dragging turnover lower was Prevacid/Takepron (lansoprazole), which plummeted 44.6% to 38.7 billion yen. The firm's leading product, the type 2 diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone), which faces generics competition next year, managed a 3.6% rise to 99.5 billion yen. Revenues from Blopress (candesartan) edged up 1.6% to 56.5 billion yen; Leuplin (leuprorelin) for breast cancer and endometriosis advanced 6.1% to 27.9 billion; and Velcade (bortezomib) for multiple myeloma rose 11.3% to 13.2 billion yen (US sales only).