Jnana Purchased by Otsuka for $800m

In a transaction valued at up to $1.1 billion, Otsuka Pharmaceutical is seeking to purchase Jnana Therapeutics, a US-based company.

The Japanese business would use Otsuka America, a US affiliate, to pay Jnana’s stockholders $800 million. Jnana will also be eligible for milestone payments of up to $325 million. Closing of the acquisition is anticipated for Q3 of this year.

After the acquisition, Jnana will function as a subsidiary of Otsuka. In order to do this, it intends to combine Jnana with a unique business that was founded under Otsuka America, with Jnana being the remaining business.

Through the agreement, Otsuka will also get utilisation of Jnana’s RAPID chemoproteomics platform, which is used for drug development. The platform has proven effective in finding treatments for a range of malignancies, as well as immune-mediated and neurological targets. Jnana has inked two agreements with Roche for developing drugs.