Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will fully acquire Mirus for $125 million and will maintain an RNAi research site in Madison. Mirus’s transfection reagents business will be divested into a standalone business to be known as Mirus Bio LLC, without any anticipated effect on existing customers.
Employees will be offered a transition into their respective business unit. Closing of the transaction is subject to standard conditions. Completion is expected during the second half of 2008.
Lee Babiss, global head of pharma research at Roche, said: “The pioneering work in RNAi delivery by the scientists at Mirus, together with our Centre of Excellence for RNAi research in Kulmbach, puts Roche at the forefront of bringing this whole new class of treatment to patients who suffer from difficult to treat diseases.”