Daiichi Sankyo Buys German Biotech Firm

Japan's Daiichi Sankyo will pay $235 million to acquire U3 Pharma, a privately held German biotechnology company focused on antibodies for the treatment of cancer. Based in Martinsried, U3 was formed in 2001 by Axel Ullrich of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. The company's lead product, codeveloped with Amgen, is U3-1287, the first fully human anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody to inhibit oncogenic signaling and tumor proliferation. Daiichi Sankyo, which has three human monoclonal antibodies in development, is the latest Japanese firm to look to the West. Takeda Pharmaceutical is paying $8.8 billion to acquire U.S.-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals, while Eisai and Astellas Pharma last year purchased MGI Pharma and Agensys, respectively.