AFP, Paris :
France’s Sanofi announced Monday that it had reached a deal to acquire Belgian biotech firm Ablynx that values the firm at 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion), beating out Danish rival Novo Nordisk for the nano-drug maker.
Novo Nordisk earlier this month made a 2.6-billion-euro offer to buy the firm that is developing nano-drugs to treat blood disorders, which Ablynx rejected as too little.
Chief executive Olivier Brandicourt said by acquiring Ablynx that Sanofi will be expanding its portfolio of drugs that are close to market and “strengthening our platform for growth in rare blood disorders.”
Ablynx specialises in the development of nanobodies: small fragments of antibodies that like larger antibodies can bind onto the antigens that cause an immune system response. One of its nanobodies furthest along in development, caplacizumab, aims to treat a certain type of blood clot.
Ablynx’s chief executive Edwin Moses said “we believe Sanofi’s global infrastructure, commitment to innovation and commercial capabilities will accelerate our ability to deliver our pipeline” of products under development to the market.
