The degenerate Cahn-Hilliard equation is a standard model to describe living tissues. It takes into account cell populations undergoing short range attraction and long range repulsion effects. In this framework, we consider the usual Cahn-Hilliard equation with a degenerate double-well potential and degenerate mobility. These degeneracies induce numerous difficulties, in particuler for its numerical simulation. To overcome these issues, we propose a relaxation system formed of two second order equations which can be solved with standard packages. This system is endowed with an energy and an entropy structure compatible with the limiting equation. Here, we study the theoretical properties of this system; global existence and convergence of the relaxed system to the degenerate Cahn-Hilliard equation. We also study the long time asymptotics which interest relies on the numerous possible steady states with given mass.