Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Novo Nordisk acquired Dicerna Pharmaceuticals in an all-cash tender offer at $38.25/share (total equity value ~$3.3B, an ~80% premium), announced November 18, 2021 and completed December 28, 2021. The deal converted a 2019 research collaboration into full ownership of Dicerna's proprietary GalXC and GalXC-Plus RNAi platforms for liver-targeted gene silencing across cardiometabolic, NASH/liver, and rare disease targets. Dicerna was pre-revenue at deal time. The platform thesis was subsequently validated: Dicerna's lead GalXC asset nedosiran was FDA-approved as RIVFLOZA on September 29, 2023 under Novo Nordisk ownership for primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1), and the label was later expanded to children aged 2 and older, giving Novo a marketed RNAi rare-disease product from the acquisition.