Forbion is very pleased to announce a major exit by its affiliate BioGeneration Ventures as today a strategic transaction between AstraZeneca and BioGeneration's portfolio company Acerta Pharma was announced.
AstraZeneca is to acquire 55% ownership of Acerta Pharma for a $4 billion total cash consideration and receives an option to acquire the remaining 45% ownership of Acerta Pharma for up to $3 billion. BioGeneration Ventures co-founded Acerta Pharma in 2013 with a team of seasoned drug development professionals and other investors. Acerta Pharma recently announced the results of a Phase I/II clinical study in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) of Acalabrutinib (ACP-196) that were published in the New Engeland Journal of Medicine and showed a marked activity of the drug. The drug is currently in Phase III development for B-cell blood cancers and in Phase I/II clinical trials in multiple solid tumors.
This sale represents the fourth exit of BioGeneration Ventures this year as portfolio companies Lanthio Pharma, Noviogendix and Dezima Pharma were sold earlier in 2015. This transaction is the biggest success in the history of BioGeneration Ventures and is in fact one of the largest biotech transactions ever in the Netherlands.
Acerta’s press release can be found here.