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Novo Nordisk to Acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals for $3.3B

Gains Dicerna’s ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform to develop therapies to selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease.

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By: Kristin Brooks

Managing Editor, Contract Pharma

Novo Nordisk has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals for $3.3 billion. Dicerna’s ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform is a strategic addition to Novo Nordisk’s existing research technology platforms applicable across Novo Nordisk’s therapeutic focus areas.
 
Leveraging Dicerna’s GalXC and GalXC-Plus RNAi technologies, Dicerna develops RNAi-based therapies to selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease. Dicerna’s RNAi technology platform enables access to intracellular disease targets across hepatic and extrahepatic cell and tissue types.
 
In 2019, Novo Nordisk entered a research collaboration with Dicerna to discover and develop RNAi therapies using Dicerna’s GalXC RNAi platform technology. The collaboration explored more than 30 liver cell targets with the potential to deliver multiple clinical candidates for disorders including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), type 2 diabetes, obesity and rare diseases. Novo Nordisk expects to initiate clinical development with the first target in 2022.
 
“The acquisition of Dicerna accelerates Novo Nordisk’s research within RNAi and expands the usage of the RNAi technology,” said Marcus Schindler, PhD, professor, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk. “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 diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and NASH as well as rare diseases like endocrine disorders and bleeding disorders.”
 
“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 Douglas Fambrough, PhD, founder, president and chief executive officer of Dicerna. “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.”

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