Oct 18 (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltdsaid on Thursday Japan's Fair Trade Commission had approved its$62 billion acquisition of Shire Plc, bringing theJapanese firm closer to sealing a deal that will make it aglobal top 10 drugmaker.
The deal, which will be the largest overseas purchase by aJapanese company, has already received unconditional clearancefrom regulators in the United States, Brazil and China.
"Takeda is proud of its Japanese heritage, and we arelooking forward to building on this heritage as a combinedcompany to continue delivering highly-innovative medicines thatare transformative to patients in Japan and around the world,”Takeda CEO Christophe Weber said in a statement.
Takeda is also waiting for a nod from EU antitrustregulators. They are expected to make a decision by Nov. 6 butcan open a four-month long investigation if they have seriousconcerns.(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa in Tokyo and Shashwat Awasthi inBengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
