OSAKA, Japan, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ('Takeda', TSE: 4502) and MillenniumPharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM) today announced that the Federal TradeCommission has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, in connectionwith the previously announced merger agreement between Takeda and Millennium.
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On April 28, 2008, Takeda received antitrust clearance from the AustrianFederal Competition Authority in connection with the merger agreement and onApril 18, 2008 the German Federal Cartel Office granted Takeda's request forearly clearance to proceed with the acquisition of Millennium shares under themerger agreement. As a consequence of these events, all of the conditions inthe merger agreement that relate to the expiration or termination ofapplicable anti-trust waiting periods or obtaining clearances underapplicable anti-trust laws have been met.
About Takeda
Founded in 1781 and located in Osaka, Japan, Takeda is a research-basedglobal company with its main focus on pharmaceuticals. As the largestpharmaceutical company in Japan and one of the global leaders of the industry,Takeda is committed to striving toward better health for individuals andprogress in medicine by developing superior pharmaceutical products.Additional information about Takeda is available through its corporatewebsite, http://www.takeda.com .
About Millennium
Millennium, a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass.,markets VELCADE, a novel cancer product, and has a robust clinical developmentpipeline of product candidates. Millennium research, development andcommercialization activities are focused in two therapeutic areas: oncologyand inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome,understanding of disease mechanisms and industrialized drug discoveryplatform, Millennium is developing an exciting pipeline of innovative productcandidates.
