While industry participants at BioJapan expect big pharma to continue to seek external partnerships and acquisitions to bolster pipelines, the technology and countries involved in such alliances look set to change.

Japanese firm backs off potential acquisition of Australian cell therapy venture after the two sides fail to agree on deal terms.

The long-recurring theme of how effectively to foster Japan’s bioventure sector again emerged as a key thread at recent major industry meeting, while the broader topic of effective partnering occupied the minds of industry and academia alike.

Daiichi Sankyo obtains rights to antiemetic Nasea and the anti-hypertension drugs Perdipine and Oldeca. Mitsubishi Tanabe licenses Asian rights to Viela’s inebilizumab for a rare eye disorder.

In a continued effort to pay down its debt pile from the acquisition of Shire, Takeda is to offload around 30 selected OTC and Rx products in certain Middle East and other emerging markets to private Swiss group Acino.