Executives at Novartis have not been shy about a desire to buy more companies, with cardiovascular a big focus. In total, the Swiss pharma has put $17.23 billion on the line in M&A and licensing deals this year.
Novartis’ business development team sure has been busy. The Swiss pharma has notched three deals this month alone, including Tuesday’s $1.4 billion acquisition of cardiovascular biotech Tourmaline Bio.
Earlier in the month, Novartis revealed two licensing deals, with Argo Biopharmaceutical and Arrowhead Pharma, worth a combined $7.56 billion in total potential deal value.
In total this year, Novartis has put $17.23 billion on the line in M&A and licensing deals.
The Tourmaline transaction will give Novartis access to an IL-6 targeting program for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) with the monocloncal antibody pacibekitug. BMO Capital Markets Tuesday morning said that Novartis offered a 37% premium in transaction value for the therapy, reflecting its best-in-class profile. The drug will compete with Novo Nordisk’s Phase III therapy ziltivekimab, which was acquired via Corvidia Therapeutics for $725 million in 2020.
Novartis has been eager to fill up its pipeline, as the chronic heart failure medicine Entresto is expected to lose its patent exclusivity this year. Novartis will also contend with generic competition for Xolair this year and Jakafi next. Cosentyx and Tafinlar will also fall out of patent protection before the end of 2030.
During a second-quarter earnings call in July, CFO Harry Kirsch said that Novartis is looking for “value-creating bolt-on deals.” The business development team—headed by Chief Strategy Growth Officer Ronny Gal—has signed 30 deals over the past two years, Kirsch noted.
Kirsch specifically named the Regulus Therapeutics transaction from April as an example of the type of deal Novartis will be looking for going forward. That deal totaled $1.7 billion and bolstered Novartis’ oligonucleotide portfolio with the addition of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) therapy farabursen.
In late 2024, Novartis executives indicated a desire to have multiple assets in the clinic for arrhythmia by the end of 2025. Asked about this during the earnings call, CEO Vas Narasimhan said the goal remains top of mind. The company signed several licensing deals for preclinical assets to accomplish this—including one with Flagship Pioneering’s ProFound Therapeutics in June.
“We see this as an area where we have unique expertise, probably one of the few companies still going after addressing cardiac arrhythmias,” Narasimhan told analysts on the call. “And obviously, if successful, market sizes here are quite large and the opportunity to use a medicine versus using the device-based cardio version is quite compelling for patients.”
