Despite the Phase 1 cull, CEO Vas Narasimhan on Wednesday maintained that Novartis continues to invest in its early-stage pipeline, looking for deals in the “sub-$2-billion range.”
Novartis has removed six Phase 1 candidates from its pipeline and replaced them with two new entrants, a move that comes as the company reaffirms its strategy of beefing up both its early- and late-stage roster.
The assets removed include the immunomodulator KFA115 and the Werner blocker HRO761, both of which were being tested for solid tumors. The pharma also axed MGY825, which it had been assessing in a now-terminated first-in-human study of non-small cell lung cancer. AAA802, an Actinium-225-based radioligand therapy for prostate cancer, was also dropped.
These pipeline changes were first reported Wednesday by Fierce Biotech, which also confirmed the news with a company spokesperson. These four molecules appeared in Novartis’ third-quarter 2025 earnings presentation, but were absent from a pipeline update on Wednesday.
Novartis is refining its portfolio “to ensure we are advancing only the highest value medicines,” the spokesperson told Fierce. “A recent review of our R&D projects resulted in decisions to discontinue a select number of research and early clinical projects.”
This decision, however, does not indicate a pullback, either from cancer specifically or from early-stage investments more broadly, with the spokesperson adding that the removed assets are “balanced by the addition of new projects entering our pipeline.”
In the company’s presentation on Wednesday, Novartis revealed that it has introduced two new Phase 1 cancer assets into its pipeline: AMO959 for prostate cancer and GCJ904 for solid tumors.
Wednesday’s pipeline update comes alongside the pharma’s full-year 2025 earnings report, in which Novartis touted more than $54.5 billion in net sales, representing an 8% year-on-year growth. Oncology remained the company’s bread-and-butter, with several cancer drugs emerging as growth drivers. The breast cancer drug Kisqali, for instance, saw a 57% increase to hit $4.78 billion in sales while the leukemia drug Scemblix surged 85% to $1.29 billion.
Alongside the 2025 earnings report, CEO Vas Narasimhan on a media call early Wednesday morning also reaffirmed the value of early-stage investments to Novartis’ overall pipeline strategy. The pharma, he told reporters, is continuously on the lookout for promising Phase 1 candidates.
“We’ve been really consistent in wanting to build out our early-stage pipeline,” Narasimhan said, particularly with deals in the “sub-$2-billion range.”
