Novo Nordisk has completed its $1.8-billion acquisition of Emisphere Technologies, a Roseland, New Jersey-based drug-delivery company. As a result of the completion of the merger, Emisphere has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Novo Nordisk.

The acquisition was announced early last month (November 2020). Novo Nordisk has acquired all outstanding shares of Emisphere for $1.350 billion. As part of the transaction, Novo Nordisk has also acquired related Eligen SNAC royalty-stream obligations owed to MHR Fund Management (MHR), the largest shareholder of Emisphere, for $450 million, thereby making the total acquisition price $1.8 billion.

Novo Nordisk and Emisphere have collaborated since 2007. Emisphere’s drug-delivery technology, Eligen SNAC, is used by Novo Nordisk under an existing license agreement in the oral formulation of Novo Nordisk’s Rybelsus (semaglutide), a prescription medicine for treating Type 2 diabetes.

Source: Novo Nordisk and Emisphere Technologies