Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and its ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform in a deal valued at $3.3bn, to expand the RNAi technology use.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement signed by the companies, Novo Nordisk will launch a tender offer to acquire Dicerna’s all outstanding shares for $38.25 per share.
Dicerna is focused on research, development and commercialisation of medicines which use RNAi technology to selectively target genes that cause diseases.
It uses GalXC and GalXC-Plus RNAi technologies to develop RNAi-based therapies.
Through this deal, Novo Nordisk will gain access to Dicerna’s RNAi platform which will be a strategic addition to the company’s existing research technology platforms.
This will also support the company’s strategy to expand the use of the RNAi technology across all its therapeutic focus areas.
The company partnered with Dicerna in 2019 to discover and develop RNAi therapies using the latter’s GalXC RNAi platform.
Dicerna founder, president and CEO Douglas Fambrough said: “Since the start of our collaboration two years ago, the Dicerna and Novo Nordisk teams have established a strong rapport built on a foundation of mutual respect for one another’s capabilities, culture and expertise.
“The combination of Dicerna’s expertise in RNAi and oligonucleotide therapeutics and highly skilled employees with Novo Nordisk’s industry leadership in developing and commercialising medicines to treat serious chronic diseases, has the potential to significantly accelerate and expand our mission to deliver GalXC RNAi therapies for the benefit of patients and all our stakeholders.”
Through this collaboration, the companies explored more than 30 liver cell targets to deliver several clinical candidates for disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and rare diseases.
The clinical development of the first target is expected to begin next year.
Furthermore, the acquisition is anticipated to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.