(Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S agreed to buy Forma Therapeutics Holdings Inc. in a deal valuing the US biotech company at about $1.1 billion, as it seeks to expand its reach in treatments for rare blood disorders. 

The Danish firm, behind some of the world’s best-selling obesity and diabetes drugs, will pay $20 a share in cash for the company, according to a statement Thursday. That’s almost 50% more than the closing price Wednesday.

Forma focuses on treating patients with rare blood disorders and sickle cell disease -- a painful, sometimes lethal disorder that in the US mainly affects Black people. The company has a promising treatment currently in trial called Etavopivat, which is being developed to improve anemia and red blood cell health in people with sickle cell disease. It is also being investigated for use in patients with transfusion-dependent sickle cell and another inherited blood disease called thaslassemia. 

Novo said the acquisition complements its strategy to diversify and build a pipeline of transformative drugs for patients with “rare and devastating diseases.” 

The shares fell slightly in afternoon trading in Copenhagen. Forma shares jumped as much as 48% to $19.84 in New York trading Thursday morning. 

Earlier this month Novo’s Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told Bloomberg News the company was “increasingly open” to acquisitions, licensing deals and cooperation agreements. He said the group wanted to build on biology and technologies it understands and where it’s in control, and “can keep investing.”

Novo Nordisk Open to Partnerships and Licensing Deals, CEO Says

Sickle cell disease, long ignored by the industry, is fast becoming an area of focus, with Pfizer Inc. recently buying Global Blood Therapeutics Inc., which has a promising drug to treat the disease, in a $5.4 billion transaction.

Read More: A $5.4 Billion Deal Finally Brings Long-Ignored Disease in Focus

Novo’s stock is volatile and fell hard at the beginning of the month when it said that sales of its key obesity drug that’s expected to underpin its growth, Wegovy, missed expectations. Novo holds more than two-thirds of the global branded obesity prescription drug market but has been battling production issues. 

Novo said the Forma transaction will not affect its outlook for the current fiscal year or its ongoing share buyback program. The company, advised by Moelis & Company, will fund the deal out of its own financial reserves. 

Forma’s board, advised by Centerview Partners LLC, has unanimously approved the deal. RA Capital Management, which owns about 19% of the biotech company’s stock, is supporting the takeover by Novo. 

(Updates with premarket shares in fourth paragraph.)

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