TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co (T:4502) on Friday raised its full-year profit forecast as the company refocuses on its core prescription drug businesses following its $59 billion takeover of Shire Plc (LON:SHP) last year.
Japan's largest drugmaker by revenue expects operating profit of 395 billion yen ($3.78 billion) in the year through March 2021, it said on Friday in reporting quarterly earnings.
The revision to its forecast was mainly due to one-time items, Takeda said. It compares with a previous forecast of 355 billion yen in operating profit and a consensus of 382.5 billion yen in a Refinitiv poll of 13 analysts.
Takeda announced earlier this year a pause in the start of new drug trials except for its plasma-derived COVID-19 therapy.
It has formed an alliance of 10 global plasma companies to develop a shared therapy that uses immune cells from the blood of recovered coronavirus patients.