Roche to acquire Seragon in deal that could reach over $1.7 billion

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) says its biotech subsidiary Genentech has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seragon Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotechnology company based in San Diego, California, USA.

With this acquisition, Genentech will gain rights to Seragon’s entire portfolio of investigational next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs), for the potential treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

$1 billion contingent payments

Under the terms of the deal, Genentech will make an upfront cash payment of $725 million, plus additional contingent payments of up to $1 billion based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones.