By Mary de Wet

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that Novo Nordisk AS would buy the biopharmaceutical company for $38.25 per share in cash for a total equity value of $3.3 billion.

The price is an 80% premium to Wednesday's closing price, Dicerna said.

The acquisition is aimed at accelerating Novo Nordisk's development of RNAi therapies using Dicerna's GalXC technology, Dicerna said.

The two companies have collaborated since 2019 to develop RNAi therapies, encompassing the exploration of more than 30 liver cell targets with the potential to deliver clinical candidates for disorders including chronic liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, type 2 diabetes, obesity and rare diseases, Dicerna said.

Novo Nordisk expects to initiate clinical development of the first investigational RNAi therapeutic from this collaboration next year, Dicerna said.

Write to Mary de Wet at mary.dewet@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 18, 2021 07:36 ET (12:36 GMT)

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