Healthcare company Roche agreed yesterday to acquire Novo-backed pharmaceutical company Santaris Pharma in a deal that could be worth up to $450m.
Roche will pay $250m upfront for the Denmark-based company, and another $200m could potentially come through milestone payments.
Formed in 2003 through the merger of biotechnology companies Pantheco and Cureon, Santaris is developing drugs for hard-to-treat diseases based around its locked nucleic acid (LNA) technology platform.
John C. Reed, head of Roche’s pharma research and early development division, said: “Today there are many disease targets that are very challenging or even impossible to reach with small molecules or antibodies.
“We believe the LNA platform provides the means to efficiently discover and develop an important new class of medicines that may address the significant needs of patients across multiple therapeutic areas.”
Santaris secured $12m in funding in 2012 through a convertible bond issue to pharmaceutical company Novo, venture capital firms Sunstone Capital, Seventure Partners and Forbion Capital Partners, investment firm Gilde Healthcare, pension fund LD and VC fund Global Life Science Ventures.
The company previously raised approximately $89m through 2007 from Novo, LD, Forbion, Global Life Science, Sunstone and Seventure, as well as Bankinvest, Omega, ABN Amro Capital Life Sciences, Vaekstfonden, SPEF Venture, Dansk Kapitalanlaeg and Dansk Erhvervsinvestering.