Kaken Pharmaceutical : Completes Acquisition of ARTham Therapeutics Inc.

December 13, 2021 - Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Kaken", head office Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director, Hiroyuki Horiuchi) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of ARTham Therapeutics Inc. ("ARTham", head office Yokohama, Kanagawa; CEO, Hiroshi Nagabukuro), a Japanese biotech venture company, and ARTham has become a consolidated subsidiary of Kaken.

Under the stock purchase agreement and other relevant agreements executed between Kaken, ARTham shareholders and holders of stock acquisition rights (18 in total, the "Sellers") and ARTham, Kaken today acquired 53.3% (on a fully diluted basis) each of ARTham's common stock, class A stock or class B stock, or ARTham's stock acquisition rights held by the Sellers in exchange for 5,500 million yen in cash. At the same time, the common shares and class shares in ARTham that are to remain in the possession of the Sellers have been changed to non-voting common shares and class shares, therefore the ratio of voting rights in ARTham held by Kaken has become 100%. Additionally, in the future, the Sellers will be able to acquire payments in Kaken's common stock equivalent to up to 7,222 million yen upon achieving four milestones based on progress in the research and development of ARTham's new drug pipelines ART-001 (for refractory vascular malformations) and ART-648 (for bullous pemphigoid).

This acquisition expands Kaken's development pipelines in the field of dermatologic disorders and Kaken will further enhance its research and development capabilities with the acquisition by realizing synergies through the application of ARTham's technologies and experience in drug repositioning to Kaken's existing compounds.

The impact of this transaction on Kaken's consolidated results is currently under examination, and Kaken will make an announcement if any event requiring disclosure arises.

Back to list