Roche acquires Swiss-based GlycArt
in an attempt to further strengthen Roche's capabilities in the
therapeutic antibody research sector, capitalising on their
pre-existing collaboration in September 2004.
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay approximately CHF235 million (€150 million) in cash in exchange for all of GlycArt's outstanding capital stock. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005.
Roche said it planned to maintain the GlycArt facility in Zurich-Schlieren as a fully integrated part of the Roche Pharma research organisation. No further details of the deal were disclosed.
"This acquisition is an excellent strategic fit with our Therapeutic Protein Initiative and our focus on developing clinically differentiated proteins and antibodies for areas of unmet medical need, such as oncology," said Franz Humer, CEO of the Roche Group.
Roche, the world leader in oncology thanks to its partnership with US biotech firm Genentech, now inherits GlycArt proprietary GlycoMAb glycosylation technology, a method of increasing the potency of therapeutic antibodies targeting undesirable cells by engineering the carbohydrate component present in all such antibodies.
Glycoproteins mediate many essential functions in human beings, signalling, cell-cell communication, and molecular recognition and association. They make up the majority of non-cytosolic proteins in eukaryotic organisms.
Many glycoproteins have been exploited for therapeutic purposes, and during the last two decades, recombinant versions of naturally occurring, secreted glycoproteins have been a major product of the biotechnology industry.
Examples include erythropoietin (EPO), therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (therapeutic mAbs), tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), interferon-.beta., (IFN-.beta.), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCH).
GlycoMAb specifically increases antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), an immune effector mechanism crucial for the in vivo target-cell killing activity of antibodies.
GlycoMAb thus has the potential to generate best-in-class antibody therapeutics in disease areas such as oncology, where Roche is the global market leader. In addition Roche will acquire GlycArt's development pipeline, which includes three monoclonal antibodies in preclinical development for cancer.
