1. In Vivo

When Opportunity Knocks: Eisai Turns To Business Development

Starting in 2006, Eisai embarked on a bold campaign to reorient the company around cancer – with an emphasis on externally sourced innovation – that put aggressive business development front and center. Now as Eisai prepares to launch what may be its most transformative in-licensed product, the weight-loss therapy Belviq, signs of trouble have appeared in its trophy cancer franchise.

Starting in 2006, Eisai Co. Ltd. set its sights on becoming a major presence in cancer. The move to elevate cancer, with little commercial experience in the area, to a core therapeutic focus was motivated by the impending loss of exclusivity of two key products: Aricept (donepezil) in 2010 and Aciphex (rabeprazole) a few years later. Oncology was where advancing science and unmet medical need were pointing. The decision led to Eisai’s grandest foray into M&A. Credit Suisse analyst Fumiyoshi Sakai says that Eisai was the first Japanese company to invest in an oncology franchise outside of Japan.

In quick succession, it acquired Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s line of cancer products in 2006 [See Deal], followed...

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