Shire owner plans spending cuts

Ben Hirschler For Christophe Weber, the boss of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical, securing a $62bn (€52bn) deal last week to buy drugmaker Shire at the fifth time of asking was the easy bit.

For Christophe Weber, the boss of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical, securing a $62bn (€52bn) deal last week to buy drugmaker Shire at the fifth time of asking was the easy bit.

Now he has to steer what will be one of the world’s most indebted drugmakers through the big spending cuts needed to make the financial sums work.