Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire U3 Pharma AG, a privately held German biotechnology company focusing on antibody research for the treatment of cancer. Daiichi Sankyo will purchase all of the stock and make a one-time payment of $235 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
   
U3 Pharma was founded by Professor Axel Ullrich of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, whose gene technology-based and oncology-focused research led to the development of the oncology drugs Herceptin and Sutent. U3 Pharma was established in 2001 and currently employs 27 people, the majority of whom work in R&D.
   
U3 Pharma's pipeline of targeted therapeutics includes programs focusing on fully-human antibodies as potential therapies for breast, lung and colorectal cancers, among others. The company's lead product, which is being co-developed with Amgen, is U3-1287 (AMG 888), the first fully-human anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) to inhibit oncogenic signaling and tumor proliferation. The companies intend to initiate clinical development of this compound this year.
   
"Our acquisition of U3 Pharma is an ideal strategic fit for our oncology portfolio," said Takashi Shoda, president and chief operating officer of Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. "We currently have three human monoclonal antibodies in development. Additionally, in March, 2008, we announced that we were expanding our joint research venture with another German company, MorphoSys AG, for its advanced Human Combinatorial Antibody Library and its phage display technologies. One of our goals for Daiichi Sankyo is to increase our presence in novel therapeutics in the oncology arena."

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