Gilead pays $65m for cancer drug developer EpiTherapeutics

May 11, 2015 •

Novo Seeds, Lundbeck, Merck and Astellas all exited EpiTherapeutics after it was acquired by biopharmaceutical firm Gilead.

Biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences agreed on Wednesday to acquire Denmark-based cancer treatment developer EpiTherapeutics for $65m in cash, giving an exit to pharmaceutical companies Novo, Merck and Lundbeck.

EpiTherapeutics is working on oncology drugs based on epigenetics, an area of therapeutics that focuses on enzymes involved in regulating cancer. Its technology comes out of research conducted at University of Copenhagen’s Biotech Research & Innovation Centre.

Novo acted as a founding investor in EpiTherapeutics in 2008 through its Novo Seeds unit,…

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