Eyeing RNAi platform more than pipeline, Novo buys Dicerna for $3.3B
Building on prior deal around hepatic platform, takeout gives Novo broader access to Dicerna’s technology
With its interest in acquiring partner Dicerna driven by the biotech’s RNAi platform rather than its pipeline, Novo was able to strike a premium-priced deal while paying no more than Dicerna’s mid-summer market value, before a pivotal readout drove down its share price.
Novo Nordisk A/S (CSE:NOVO B; NYSE:NVO) will pay $38.25 per share, or about $3.3 billion, to acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:DRNA), gaining the biotech’s GalXC platform addressing disease-related genes expressed in the liver, as well as its GalXC-Plus platform for non-hepatic genes. The price is an 80% premium over Dicerna’s close Wednesday at $21.28...
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