In its second largest M&A deal to date, Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire Emisphere Technologies, a drug delivery company focused on the development of oral formulations of therapeutics using its Eligen® technology, for US$1.8 B. The two companies have collaborated since 2007 on oral therapeutics, with the most notable example being the use of Emisphere’s absorption-enhancing excipient, SNAC, to develop Rybelsus® (semaglutide) which gained FDA approval in September 2019 as the first and only oral GLP-1 analogue treatment for type 2 diabetes in adults.