GSK agrees to buy Sirtris for $720M to gain foothold in emerging field of sirtuins

UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for $720.0 million, bolstering its pipeline with the US biotechnology firm's portfolio of drugs targeting age-related diseases.

The London-headquartered firm, which is the world's second largest R&D-based drugmaker by sales, will make a cash tender offer of $22.50 per share to gain a foothold in the emerging field of sirtuins, a class of enzymes that are believed to be involved in the aging process. The deal represents an 84% premium to the US firm's closing share price on April 22, $12.23.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals has established a drug discovery capability to exploit sirtuin modulation for the treatment of human disease, an approach that has the potential to generate multiple clinically and commercially important products, GSK noted, adding that its focus so far has been on development of SIRT1 activators for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. "Modulation of this family of enzymes is a potentially transformative science that could address diseases associated with metabolism and ag ing such as diabetes, muscle wasting, and neurodegeneration," said Moncef Slaoui, chairman of GSK R&D.