Novo Nordisk Enters Pharma Acquisition Deal For RNAi Therapies

Novo Nordisk recently entered into a pharma acquisition deal with Dicerna Pharmaceuticals to increase its pipeline of RNAi therapies and technology platforms. 

Dicerna develops RNAi-based therapies to silence genes that cause or contribute to disease using its GalXC and GalXC-Plus technologies. The RNAi technology platforms increase access to intracellular disease targets across hepatic and extrahepatic cell and tissue types. 

“The acquisition of Dicerna accelerates Novo Nordisk’s research within RNAi and expands the usage of the RNAi technology,” Marcus Schindler, PhD, professor, executive vice president, and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk, said in the announcement.

“We have the potential to expand our pipeline and deliver life-changing precision medicines for people living with chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and NASH as well as rare diseases like endocrine disorders and bleeding disorders,” Schindler continued.

In November 2019, Novo Nordisk and Dicerna entered into an agreement to discover and develop novel therapies to treat liver-related cardio-metabolic diseases using GalXC RNAi platform technology.

The companies explored over 30 liver cell targets and may deliver multiple clinical candidates for disorders, including chronic liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), type 2 diabetes, obesity, and rare diseases.

The agreement allowed both Novo Nordisk and Dicerna to co-develop and co-commercialize product candidates discovered under the collaboration. 

Under the terms of the recent agreement, Novo Nordisk will acquire all outstanding shares of Dicerna common stock for $38.25 per cash, totaling about $3.3 billion.

Additionally, the acquisition will increase research and development costs, with an estimated negative impact on operating profit growth in 2022 of nearly three percent due to higher operating costs and amortizations of intangible assets, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson explained. 

“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,” said Dicerna founder, president CEO Douglas Fambrough, PhD, said in the announcement.