Takeda Pharmaceutical is bolstering its pipeline in a big way, committing $1.2 billion for rights to two late-stage Innovent Biologics cancer drugs and securing an exclusive option to license an early-stage program, all of which have potential applications treating a range of solid tumors.

The deal is important because like other big pharmaceutical companies, Takeda needs new products to make up for the coming drop-off in revenue as it faces the patent cliff. Patents for Takeda’s top-seller, the ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease drug Entyvio, have expired in Europe and will expire in the U.S. and Japan in 2026. While it’s unclear when biosimilars to Entyvio, an antibody drug, will enter the market, patent expirations open the door to competition that will erode revenue of the block

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