The biotech company based in the Gosselies aeropole has been acquired this week for 800 million euros by the Japanese pharmaceutical giant Astellas. This is a record figure considering that Ogeda employs 40 people and that its revenue amounts to 1.5 million. The Japanese were seduced by the potential of its treatment against hot flashes suffered by menopausal women.

Over these last months, the company received many acquisition offers, after releasing in December 2016 the very promising results of a Phase 2a clinical study. These results demonstrated the potential effectiveness of a non-hormonal chemical molecule, the Fezolinetant, to treat the hot flashes in menopausal women. Hot flashes can currently be controlled with the prescription of hormones, but such treatment implies risks and is therefore reserved to severe cases. Ogeda molecule thus presents commercial potential.

According to Jean Combalbert, Ogeda’s CEO, the company had prepared its stock market entry, but eventually gave up the idea and opted for an acquisition instead, the day before the official IPO submission. “We have chosen the solution that would enable to combine added-value for our shareholders and chances of development of our product”, he explains to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.