Gilead to acquire EpiTherapeutics

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire EpiTherapeutics ApS, a privately held Danish company, for $65 million.

The transaction is subject to certain purchase price adjustments and is to be financed through available cash on hand.

“EpiTherapeutics has done groundbreaking work in a new therapeutic class of small molecule inhibitors with broad implications across various disease states,” EpiTherapeutics CEO Martin Bonde said. “We are confident that with Gilead’s acquisition of the company, our discoveries will have the best chance to be developed into therapies that will benefit patients.”

EpiTherapeutics has created a number of selective small molecule inhibitors of epigenetic regulation of gene transcription. It also has a number of  pre-clinical compounds that are being studied for the treatment of certain cancers.

“Epigenetics is a promising area of research and the EpiTherapeutics team is a recognized scientific leader in this field,” Norbert Bischofberger, Gilead’s executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer, said. “This therapeutic class represents a strategic fit with our existing research portfolio, including the potential for novel combination approaches. We look forward to working with colleagues from EpiTherapeutics to advance these programs toward clinical development in diseases with significant unmet medical need.”