Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire the privately held firm, U3 Pharma AG, a German biotechnology company focusing on research into antibodies for the treatment of cancer.
Daiichi Sankyo will purchase 100 per cent of the stock and make a one-time payment of 150 million Euros ($235 million dollars) for the company. Closure of the transaction is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and customary closing conditions.
U3 Pharma, which is based in Martinsried, Germany, was founded by Professor Axel Ullrich of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, whose pioneering gene technology based and oncology-focused research led to the development of the oncology blockbusters Herceptin and Sutent. U3 Pharma was established in 2001 and currently employs 27 people, the majority of whom work directly in research and development.
U3 Pharma's investors include Alta Partners, Atlas Venture, E. de Rothschild Investment Partners, Life Science Partners and Karsten Henco, as well as private individuals from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. The company's pipeline of novel targeted therapeutics includes programs focusing on fully-human antibodies as potential therapies for breast, lung and colorectal cancers, among others. The company's lead product, which is being co-developed with Amgen, is U3-1287 (AMG 888), the first fully-human anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody (mAb), to inhibit oncogenic signaling and tumour proliferation.
The companies intend to initiate clinical development of this compound this year. Daiichi Sankyo's current novel therapeutics portfolio for worldwide commercialization includes CS-1008, an oncologic agent to combat malignant neoplasms, which is in phase II. For commercialization only in Japan, Daiichi Sankyo has the rights to market denosumab, or AMG 162, which is licensed from Amgen. In Japan, this agent is currently in preparation for phase III for osteoporosis, and in phase III for bone metastases in patients with advanced breast cancer. Daiichi Sankyo also has the exclusive rights in Japan to develop and market nimotuzumab, or DE 766, which is licensed from CIMYM Biosciences. This is an oncologic agent in phase I to treat advanced solid malignancies.
"Our acquisition of U3 Pharma is an ideal strategic fit for our oncology portfolio," said Takashi Shoda, president and CEO of Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. "We currently have three human monoclonal antibodies in development. Additionally, in March, 2008, we announced that we were expanding our joint research venture with another German company, MorphoSys AG, for its advanced Human Combinatorial Antibody Library and its phage display technologies. One of our goals for Daiichi Sankyo is to increase our presence in novel therapeutics in the oncology arena".
"This transaction with Daiichi Sankyo represents an important and exciting milestone for U3 Pharma," said founder Professor Axel Ullrich of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. "We look forward to working with our Daiichi Sankyo colleagues to advance our discovery pipeline and to collaborate on translating that pipeline into novel cancer therapies".