Takeda used an option from a 2017 partnership to buy the rest of Maverick Therapeutics, a private Californian biotech. Takeda agreed to pay up to $525 million, made up of an upfront payment and later milestone payments, adjusted for the stake Takeda already held. Maverick's COBRA technology makes T-cell engagers, drugs that steer the body's immune cells to attack solid tumors only when they reach the tumor. Its lead drugs were TAK-186 and TAK-280. The 2017 partnership Takeda teamed up with Maverick in early 2017 in a deal Fierce Biotech valued at $125 million. It gave Takeda a stake in Maverick and the exclusive right to buy the rest after five years. Takeda used that right in March 2021, about a year early. The drugs TAK-186 was in an early-stage (phase 1/2) trial for solid tumors that carry the EGFR protein. TAK-280 targets tumors that carry B7-H3 and was due to enter human testing in the second half of Takeda's fiscal 2021. Both are built with Maverick's COBRA platform. Closing The price was adjusted for Takeda's existing stake and Maverick's debt. Closing depended on a US antitrust review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and was expected in the April–June 2021 quarter.
