COPENHAGEN, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Danish global healthcare company Novo Nordisk has agreed a deal to acquire U.S. company Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and its ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) research technology platform, the company said in a press release on Thursday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will commence a cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Dicerna common stock for 38.25 U.S. dollars per share for a total equity value of approximately 3.3 billion U.S. dollars.
The transaction is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2021.
According to Novo Nordisk, the acquisition is a strategic addition to its existing research technology platform and "supports the strategy of using a broad range of technology platforms applicable across all Novo Nordisk's therapeutic focus areas."
"The acquisition of Dicerna accelerates Novo Nordisk's research within RNAi and expands the usage of the RNAi technology," said Marcus Schindler, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk, in the press release.
Dicerna develops RNAi-based therapies, which selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease by effectively stopping a disease from manifesting by creating proteins.
Schindler said that "the combination of Dicerna's expertise in RNAi and oligonucleotide therapeutics ...with Novo Nordisk's industry leadership in developing and commercializing medicines to treat serious chronic diseases has the potential to significantly accelerate and expand our mission to deliver RNAi therapies for the benefit of patients and all our stakeholders."
Novo Nordisk, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark, employs around 47,000 people in 80 countries. It markets its products in around 170 countries. Enditem
