Sanofi agreed to buy Ablynx for $4.8 B

With the move beating Novo Nordisk, biopharmaceutical company Sanofi has noded to buy Ablynx, the Belgian biotech company, for 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion), marking its second big deal this month after buying Bioverativ.

Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies, proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs.

The acquisition of Ablynx continues Sanofi's commitment to breakthrough innovation, focused on technologies addressing multiple disease targets with single multi-specific molecules.

Ablynx's most-advanced product in development is caplacizumab (anti-vWF Nanobody), a wholly-owned development program for the treatment of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP). The product is already filed in the European Union and expected to be filed in the U.S. during the first half of this year. Caplacizumab, if approved, would be the first-in-class treatment for this acute, life-threatening disease. 

The addition of caplacizumab to Sanofi's platform strengthens its position in rare blood disorders, complementing the recently announced agreements to acquire Bioverativ and obtain global rights for fitusiran from Alnylam.