Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., was established in 1993 as a genomics company applying world-class recombinant technology to the discovery and development of innovative new therapies in a broad spectrum of diseases. Millennium has since grown into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of investigational drug candidates, as well as VELCADE^® (bortezomib) for Injection, a successfully commercialized medicine derived from Nobel Prize-winning science that is now approved in more than 87 countries worldwide.

In May of 2005, the company's leadership changed as Founder Mark Levin turned the helm over to his carefully selected successor, Deborah Dunsire, M.D. Although considered remarkably different in management style, Dunsire embraced the company's culture, and had the skills and experience Levin and the Board of Directors considered necessary to move the company forward to greater accountability and sustainable success.

For the next several years, significant refocusing and reconfiguration took place within Millennium, as well as considerable improvements in the scale and strength of Commercial Operations.

In May, 2008, Millennium was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Takeda is the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan, and a global enterprise with an important presence in key markets.

Millennium now operates as an independent subsidiary, serving as the global center of excellence in oncology under its new name: "Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company." The merger of oncology resources has resulted in a more robust pipeline of investigational drug candidates.

This new function focuses Millennium efforts on expanding its scope of responsibility to the global oncology community. Along with an increased capacity in oncology comes increased accountability for success and a new mission that puts Millennium on a trajectory toward global oncology leadership.

This global footprint includes oncology research and marketing strategy and oversight. In addition to Cambridge, MA, oncology resources include facilities in San Diego, San Francisco, Tsukuba and Osaka with Millennium as the global hub for this critical and rapidly expanding therapeutic area.

Detailed History

Millennium was founded in 1993 with a vision for innovation and excellence in science that still exists today. Since the inception, Millennium strives to differentiate itself with either first-in-class or best-in-class innovation – whether in discovery research, clinical development, or commercial operations.

In its early years, Millennium focused on building top-notch science and business teams to help achieve this vision. Attracted by scientific leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and rapid growth, Millennium earned the attention and respect of some of the best scientists and business people around the world.

Beginning in 1994, Millennium created more than 20 strategic alliances with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These alliances provided Millennium with close to $2 billion of committed funding that we used to develop and enhance our pipeline. With an innovative, integrated science and technology platform, expertise in drug-target discovery, and industry-leading partnerships, the company was well suited to be a competitive presence in drug research and development.

Through transformational mergers and acquisitions, Millennium advanced toward the goal of building a leading biopharmaceutical company. A merger with Leukosite in 1999 brought the company its first drug close to market, Campath® (alemtuzumab) Injection, and additional investigational drugs in clinical trials. In 2000, a merger with Cambridge Discovery Chemistry gave Millennium a strong presence in the United Kingdom and added to the organization more than 100 scientists with expertise in chemistry. In a strategic business decision, Campath was later sold to Genzyme.

In February 2002, a merger with COR Therapeutics – among the largest such mergers in the history of the biotech industry – helped to further solidify our standing as a leading biopharmaceutical company. In addition to creating a strong pipeline of novel therapeutics, the merger added cardiovascular research and drug development to the Company's other key therapeutic areas: oncology and inflammation. The merger also brought INTEGRILIN® (eptifibatide) Injection, a market-leading intravenous anti-platelet drug for patients with severe cardiovascular diseases, into the Millennium fold. Later in 2005, the Company sold the rights to Schering-Plough.

As Millennium celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2003, the Company reached new heights. VELCADE® (bortezomib) for Injection was launched in May of that year for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma – a cancer of the blood. In June 2008, the VELCADE label was expanded to include previously untreated multiple myeloma. VELCADE also is approved to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma, who have received at least 1 prior therapy. VELCADE is the first FDA-approved proteasome inhibitor and reached the market in record time. It represented the first treatment in more than a decade to be approved for patients with multiple myeloma.

VELCADE is currently approved in more than 87 countries worldwide, including the U.S., European Union and a number of countries within Latin America and Southeast Asia. VELCADE is being co-developed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. Millennium is responsible for commercialization of VELCADE in the U.S., Janssen-Cilag is responsible for commercialization in Europe and the rest of the world. Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K. is responsible for commercialization in Japan.

Today, Millennium has a leading oncology product, proven commercial capabilities, and many product candidates in varying stages of development. We are continually evolving to ensure that our research and development efforts stay current with the demand for new therapeutic products that will make a genuine difference in patient's lives.