Novartis, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company, completed its $5.3bn acquisition of Xiidra, an adry eye drug, from Takeda, the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia. The transaction would bolster the Novartis front-of-the-eye portfolio and ophthalmic leadership. “These initial divestitures represent important steps in advancing the growth strategy Takeda outlined following our transformational acquisition of Shire earlier this year. We are working to strategically simplify and optimize our portfolio, while also rapidly deleveraging and continuing to invest in our growth drivers as a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader,” Christophe Weber, Takeda President and Chief Executive Officer.