Astellas to acquire Belgian drug discovery firm for up to 800 million euros

Japanese drug major Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ogeda, a privately owned drug discovery company.

Based in Belgium, Ogeda is a clinical-stage drug discovery company that discovers and develops small molecule drugs targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which until October was known as Euroscreen. Its lead investigational candidate, fezolinetant, is a selective NK3 receptor antagonist, and the positive data from a Phase IIa study result for the non-hormonal treatment of menopause-related vasomotor symptoms (MR-VMS) was announced in January 2017. This transaction expands Astellas' late stage pipeline and is expected to contribute to its mid-to-long term growth.