Théa Terminates Plans to Acquire ProQR Assets

Rare Daily Staff

RNA therapy developer ProQR Therapeutics said that Laboratoires Théa’s previously announced agreement to acquire the company’s late-stage ophthalmic assets has been terminated after key employees of ProQR declined to accept employment at Théa.

In August, ProQR Therapeutics and the independent European eye care group Laboratoires Théa, signed an agreement in which ProQR would divest its late stage ophthalmic assets, sepofarsen and ultevursen, to Théa.

The completion of the transaction was conditional on Théa entering into employment agreements with a number of key ophthalmology personnel from ProQR. As a result, a closing condition for the transaction cannot be fulfilled and Théa has terminated the agreement.

“While we are disappointed that the sale of these ophthalmology programs to Théa will not proceed, our primary focus at ProQR remains on our Axiomer RNA editing platform,” said Daniel de Boer, founder and CEO of ProQR.

Under the terms of the agreement, ProQR was to receive an initial payment of $13.7 million (€12.5 million) and would also have been eligible for up to $147.5 million (€135 million) in further development, regulatory, and commercial payments, as well as additional earn outs up to high teens percentage based on commercial sales in the United States and European Union.

ProQR’s next-generation RNA technology called Axiomer uses a cell’s own editing machinery called ADAR to make specific single nucleotide edits in RNA to reverse a mutation or modulate protein expression and could potentially yield a new class of medicines for both rare and prevalent diseases with unmet need.

Photo: Daniel de Boer, founder and CEO of ProQR