Eisai closes $255 million acquisition of AkaRx

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. A privately held drug development company announced the closure of its acquisition by Eisai for $255 million.

With the closing, AkaRx becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Eisai, the U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co. Ltd. The founding team of AkaRx has since founded a second company, Drais Pharmaceuticals, which like AkaRx is backed by venture capital investors InterWest Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures.

The acquisition of AkaRx marks the culmination of a development license agreement and a deferred merger agreement, both of which originally were signed between AkaRx and MGI Pharma in August 2007. In 2008, Eisai acquired MGI, which included the option to acquire AkaRx and AKR-501, a compound developed by AkaRx that aids platelet production.