The major Japanese firm says decision prompted by desire to focus more resources on late-stage clinical candidates and core therapeutic areas, while expanding deals.

Deal Snapshot: Using antibodies against an undisclosed target discovered and engineered by Innate, Takeda plans to investigate the potential of antibody-drug conjugates in celiac disease

The French drugmaker has begun an external and internal search to succeed John Reed who is heading for Johnson & Johnson after an up-and-down five years as Sanofi’s R&D chief.

Signs of trouble were already emerging in 2020 when Innate backed out of a co-commercialization pact. AstraZeneca plans to discontinue the hairy cell leukemia ADC in July.