Biogen hemophilia spin-out to acquire True North for up to $825 million

Shares of US biotech firm Bioverativ (Nasdaq: BIVV) fell 4% to 452.50 by close of trading on Tuesday, after it announced plans to acquire a privately held San Francisco-based rare disease drug developer,

Bioverativ, the stand-alone spin-out last August from biotech major Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) to focus on hemophilia, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire True North Therapeutics for an upfront payment of $400 million plus assumed cash. True North investors are also eligible to receive additional payments of up to $425 million contingent on the achievement of future development, regulatory and sales milestones.

As part of the acquisition, Bioverativ will obtain worldwide rights to True North’s lead candidate, TNT009, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody in development to treat cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a rare and chronic hemolytic condition that often leads to severe anemia, requiring numerous transfusions, and can result in life-threatening thrombotic events. There are no approved therapies for CAD, which occurs in approximately 16 people per million globally, including an estimated 5,000 people in the USA.