Singapore, Dec 15, 2009: Takeda Pharmaceutical and Pfizer have entered into an agreement under which Pfizer in China will co-promote Takeda’s Actos (pioglitazone HCl) with Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The exclusive co-promotion agreement will build on the current sales capability for Actos in China by increasing the number of medical representatives supporting the sales and marketing of the product and expanding the product reach utilizing the territory coverage of Pfizer, which is the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in China. Pfizer’s Chinese affiliate will receive a fixed ratio of Actos net sales.

 

Actos, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has been sold in China since 2004 by Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture of Takeda and Tianjin Lisheng Pharmacetical, a Chinese company.

 

Currently the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical market, China is expected to be the third largest market by 2011. According to the International Diabetes Federation, the diabetes epidemic has the greatest potential to increase in China, because of its population size, rapid urbanization and economic expansion.