UCB Cuts $2.1 Billion Deal to Acquire Ra Pharma

The move will allow the Belgium-headquartered biopharmaceutical giant to boost its work on treatments for rare diseases.

Written byCatherine Offord

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Brussels-based drugmaker UCB has agreed to acquire Massachusetts-based Ra Pharma for $2.1 billion, according to a joint statement published last week (October 10). The deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies and is slated to close by the end of the first quarter of 2020, will allow UCB to strengthen its portfolio in treatments for rare diseases in neurology and immunology.

One of Ra’s most advanced therapies is zilucoplan, a peptide inhibitor of a protein known as C5, which has been implicated in the neuromuscular autoimmune disease myasthenia. The condition typically affects young adult women and older men, and is thought to occur in around 14 to 20 people per 100,000 in the United States.

The drug, which is designed to be self-administered once a day, moved into Phase 3 trials for myasthenia earlier this month, with results expected in early 2021. ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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