Takeda closing South San Francisco antibody research site

Drug maker Takeda will close the South San Francisco site it once tagged as a key to developing early-stage antibody drugs.

The Japanese company said it is consolidating its South San Francisco and San Diego operations, now called Takeda California, in San Diego.

The move comes as Asia's largest drug maker deals with a falling stock price and declining sales of its best-selling drug, the diabetes treatment Actos, even as net income climbed,according to the news agency Bloomberg. It had announced the consolidation in December but held off until Friday on disclosing the fate of the Bay Area site.