Novo Nordisk has announced that its acquisition of Forma Therapeutics (Forma) has been completed in a deal worth $1.1bn, expanding the company’s blood disorders portfolio.
Through the acquisition of all outstanding shares of Forma common stock at a price of $20 per share in cash, Novo Nordisk gains access to Forma’s lead development candidate – etavopivat – an investigational oral, once-daily, selective pyruvate kinase-R (PKR) activator, being developed to improve anaemia and red blood cell health in people with sickle cell disease (SCD).
Around 17 million people worldwide live with SCD, a lifelong, incurable genetic illness causing red blood cells to take a distinct crescent shape which can block blood vessels and affect the movement of oxygen around the body.
SCD can cause serious health problems, including anaemia, fatigue, episodes of pain known as vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) and chronic end-organ damage. Despite recent advances in treatment, most patients with SCD still suffer from pain crises, lifelong disability, reduced quality of life and shortened life expectancy, Novo Nordisk reports.
In the initial announcement of the merger, Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president and head of rare disease at Novo Nordisk, said: “Novo Nordisk has worked for more than 40 years to develop and deliver transformative medicines to patients around the world with rare and devastating diseases. By adding Forma’s differentiated approach to address unmet needs for patients, we are taking a step forward in enhancing our SCD pipeline.
“We have an ambition to build a leading portfolio with standalone and combination treatments to tackle the complications and underlying causes of SCD.”
Employing a multimodal approach, etavopivat activates the red blood cell’s natural PKR activity to decrease levels of the metabolite 2,3-DPG, allowing sickle haemoglobin to retain oxygen longer, resulting in decreased polymerisation, haemolysis and sickling.
Etavopivat-mediated PKR activation also increases adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels to improve red blood cell function, which can lead to improved deformability, capacity for membrane repair, red blood cell health and lifespan, Novo Nordisk said in a statement.
Etavopivat is currently being evaluated in a global phase 2/3 clinical trial – Hibiscus – in patients with SCD, and in a phase 2 trial – Gladiolus – in patients with transfusion-dependent SCD and thalassaemia, another inherited haemoglobinopathy.