Shire Could Take Hit in L.A. on Takeda Sale

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Shire Could Take Hit in L.A. on Takeda Sale
Shire PLC

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has agreed to buy Dublin-based Shire PLC for $62 billion in a deal announced May 8 that could affect hundreds of Shire employees in Los Angeles.

The acquisition would create the world’s eighth-largest drug maker with combined sales worth $30 billion. The deal is expected to close by the summer of 2019.

The Takeda takeover will mean lay-offs, Osaka-based Takeda said, as the companies consolidate operations.

What’s unclear is how it might affect Shire operations in Los Angeles.

A Shire plant in Atwater Village develops plasma-related treatments for hemophilia, trauma, kidney disease and immune system disorders.

Shire acquired it 2016 when it acquired Baxalta, a biopharmaceutical spinoff of Baxter International, for $32 billion. The merger also included a genomics research laboratory in Thousand Oaks.

A Business Journal ranking of the region’s largest biotechnology firms in March listed the Los Angeles’ Shire subsidiary as tied for fifth with 1,500 local workers.

—Dana Bartholomew

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