Roche to acquire Denmark’s Santaris Pharma

Continuing on its path of strategic rather than mega transactions, Swiss pharma major Roche (ROG: SIX) yesterday agreed to acquire Santaris Pharma, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company based near Copenhagen, Denmark, in a deal potentially worth $450 million. Danish VC Sunstone has the largest equity holding in Santaris. Others include Dutch venture capital firm Forbion Capital Partners or French VC Seventure Partners.

The acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to complete in August 2014. Santaris Pharma has pioneered its proprietary Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) platform that has contributed to an emerging era of RNA-targeting therapeutics. This new class of medicines has the potential to address difficult to treat diseases in a range of therapeutic areas. 

Forbion recognized that Santaris’ LNA chemistries were the best in class antisense technology when the firm led the recapitalization of the company in 2006,” said Martien van Osch, managing partner at Forbion and board member of Santaris Pharma. “Forbion has been a strong proponent of the company ever since, working closely with the management to promote the significant therapeutic potential of this new class of drugs,” he noted.

$250 million upfront payment