Dicerna Pharmaceuticals acquired by Novo Nordisk; Shares rocket 80%

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: DRNA) is a biopharma company that concentrates on developing RNAi therapeutics that announced that Novo Nordisk would acquire it for a total equity value of about $3.3 billion, shares in cash of $38.25 each. 

Both the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals unanimously approved this transaction. 

The relationship between the two companies 

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Dicerna and Nova Nordisk have collaborated on research linked to RNAi Therapies development since 2019. They came together because of Dicerna Pharmaceutical’s GaIXC RNAi platform tech.  

The collaboration between these two companies involved the exploration of over thirty liver cell targets. In addition, it allowed them to showcase the potential they have of coming up with several different clinical candidates that can be used to treat disorders such as NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), chronic liver disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. 

Dicerna Pharmaceutical’s RNAi technology allows one to access intracellular disease targets across extrahepatic and hepatic cells and tissue types. Furthermore, this tech happens to complement Novo’s existing tech platforms exceptionally well. 

The acquisition of Dicerna supports Novo’s strategy of both applying and developing a wide array of tech platforms across all of the company’s therapeutic areas. 

What did senior management say?

Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President, Marcus Schindler, believes that the acquisition will help speed up the company’s research efforts linked to RNAi therapeutics development and help expand the use of proprietary RNAi technologies. 

Mr. Schindler said:

We build on our successful collaboration and by combining Dicerna’s state-of-the-art RNAi drug engine and intracellular delivery with our deep capabilities in disease biology understanding and tissue targeting through peptides and proteins we have the potential to expand our pipeline and deliver life-changing precision medicines for people living with chronic disease.

Dicerna Pharmaceutical’s Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President, Douglas Fambrough, Ph.D., claimed that the Novo and Dicerna teams had created a strong rapport because of their mutual respect for each other’s expertise, culture, and capabilities.