{"id":40262,"date":"2020-11-06T10:51:51","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T15:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=40262"},"modified":"2020-11-06T10:51:51","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T15:51:51","slug":"oral-drug-delivery-company-acquired-in-1-8b-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=40262","title":{"rendered":"Oral Drug Delivery Company Acquired in $1.8B Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Investor<\/a>
(Stephen Dawson, Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6 Nov. 2020. Emisphere Technologies, developers of a process that makes biologic drugs available as oral medicines is being acquired by drug maker Novo Nordisk. Shareholders in Emisphere Technologies Inc.<\/a>, based in Roseland, New Jersey, will receive $1.35 billion from Novo Nordisk A\/S<\/a> in Bagsv\u00e6rd, Denmark, which is also paying out $450 million for Emisphere’s royalty obligations in a separate transaction.<\/p>\n

Emisphere and Novo Nordisk, a global pharmaceutical company specializing in diabetes drugs, are hardly strangers. One of Novo Nordisk’s leading products, semaglutide<\/a>, marketed as the brand name Rybelsus<\/a>, uses Emisphere’s oral drug delivery technology. Semaglutide is part of a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide 1, or\u00a0GLP-1 receptor agonists<\/a> that activate GLP-1 peptides to promote production of insulin in the pancreas. The two companies began collaborating in 2007, with Novo Nordisk licensing Emisphere’s technology for semaglutide.<\/p>\n

Emisphere says its technology called Eligen<\/a> is designed to enhance absorption of therapeutic molecules of all sizes without altering their chemical form, properties, or effects. Eligen, says the company, uses agents made from salcaprozate sodium<\/a> that act as carriers of drug molecules through cell membranes. Emisphere says it has a library of some 4,000 such carriers that can be adapted for converting injected drugs into capsules or tablets, as well as inhaled, intervaginal, or rectal-administered drugs. The technology, says Emisphere, can be applied to drugs based on proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Novo Nordisk is paying Emisphere stockholders $7.82 a share for its nearly 171 million shares, or about $1.35 billion, a premium of 17 percent over its average share price for the past five trading days. Emisphere shares trade over-the-counter, and not on a major exchange. In addition, Novo Nordisk is acquiring royalty-stream obligations owed to private equity company MHR Fund Management<\/a>, a major shareholder in Emisphere, for another $450 million.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk plans to apply Emisphere’s drug delivery technology to a broader range of biologic products. Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen<\/a>, Novo Nordisk’s chief scientist, says in a company statement<\/a>, “We intend to apply and further develop the technology and use it on current and future pipeline assets with the aim of making more biologic medicines orally available for patients.”<\/p>\n

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