Takeda - Actos: it's a ill wind

Takeda, Japan's largest drugmaker, said first-half profit rose 37 percent on higher sales of its Actos diabetes pill.

Net income was 218 billion yen ($1.9 billion), or 256 yen a share, in the six months ended Sept. 30, from 159.1 billion yen, or 181 yen, in the same period a year earlier, the Osaka-based company said in a statement today. Revenue rose 10 percent to 708.5 billion yen, from 642.4 billion yen. Profit beat the 213 billion yen average of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Actos overtook GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Avandia as the world's top-selling diabetes medicine after the Glaxo drug was linked in a May 21 report to a higher heart attack risk.

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