"Contrave represents an important addition to Takeda's cardiovascular and metabolic disease franchise and we look forward to partnering with Orexigen," said Shinji Honda, President and CEO of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda that has commercial responsibility for the Americas. "Takeda has deep experience in providing important medicines to treat chronic disease and Contrave will help us provide a full spectrum of treatment to patients for the management of obesity."

Approximately 75 million Americans suffer from obesity and that number is expected to rise to 103 million by 2018. Obesity is a chronic condition linked to serious medical consequences including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression. Despite increasing public health concerns regarding obesity, two-thirds of the U.S. adult population is overweight or obese. Although weight loss of 5-10 percent may improve overall health, including blood sugar control, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and overall quality of life, many individuals are not able to lose weight or maintain weight loss with diet and exercise alone.

SOURCE Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.