By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DRNA) shares have opened 78% above Wednesday's close after the company said it has agreed to be acquired by Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) for $3.3 billion.
"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, Founder, President, and CEO of Dicerna.
Dicerna shares are trading at $37.94 in the morning session.
Novo Nordisk will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Dicerna common stock for $38.25 per share in cash.
Novo's strategic move will expand its use of Dicerna's ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform. Dicerna develops RNAi-based therapies to selectively silence genes that can cause or contribute to disease.
Novo also knows Dicerna well, having entered a research collaboration with the company to discover and develop RNAi therapies using its GalXC RNAi platform technology.
Dicerna told investors that Novo Nordisk expects to initiate clinical development of the first investigational RNAi therapeutic from this collaboration in 2022.
“The combination of Dicerna’s expertise in RNAi and oligonucleotide therapeutics and highly skilled employees 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 GalXC RNAi therapies for the benefit of patients and all our stakeholders,” added Farmbrough.
The companies expect to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2021.