Nuvalent Bio is GSK’s third big-ticket purchase this year, after the pharma dropped $2.2 billion in January for RAPT Therapeutics and $950 million in February for 35Pharma.
GSK is making a major investment in its cancer pipeline with the $10.6 billion acquisition of Nuvalent Bio and its precision oncology candidates, marking the industry’s second-largest takeover of the year so far.
“GSK was not the most anticipated strategic acquirer discussed in our recent investor conversations,” Truist Securities said in a Tuesday note to investors. Nevertheless, the analysts continued. the deal aligns with the pharma’s recent pipeline prioritizations and poses “low antitrust risk given limited overlap” between the two companies’ pipelines.
Overall, the GSK deal “crystallizes [Nuvalent’s] full value for a de-risked platform with the premium reflecting the clear regulatory line-of-sight and competitive commercial potential” of the biotech’s pipeline, the firm said.
Under the terms of the agreement, announced early on Tuesday, GSK will purchase all of Nuvalent’s outstanding shares at $124 apiece, representing a 40% premium to the biotech’s last closing price of $88.49.
The stars of the Tuesday takeover are Nuvalent’s lead cancer assets: the ROS1 blocker zidesamtinib and the ALK inhibitor neladalkib. Both are currently under FDA review for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with approval decisions expected by September 18 and November 27, respectively. The drug candidates are also in mid-stage development for solid tumors, according to Nuvalent’s website. Truist currently models combined peak revenue of around $3.5 billion for these two drugs.
If approved, GSK plans to launch the drugs this year and believes both assets have “multi-blockbuster potential,” according to Tuesday’s release.
In addition, GSK will get the HER2 blocker NVL-330, which is in early-stage trials for NSCLC. Nuvalent will also bring into the fold a portfolio of undisclosed preclinical precision oncology medicines.
GSK and Nuvalent expect to close the transaction in the third quarter pending customary conditions.
Nuvalent is GSK’s third sizeable acquisition this year. In January, the pharma swallowed RAPT Therapeutics for $2.2 billion in a deal centered on an investigational antibody for food allergies. A month later, GSK picked up 35Pharma for $950 million, securing ownership over a drug for pulmonary hypertension.
More broadly, GSK’s Nuvalent deal ranks as the second-largest deal across biopharma this year so far, behind Sun Pharma’s $11.75 billion gamble for Organon in April. Other notable acquisitions this year include Eli Lilly’s play for three vaccine makers last month in a trio of deals totaling $3.8 billion, as well as the pharma’s $7 billion purchase of CAR T specialist Kelonia Therapeutics in April. Gilead that month made a $5 billion move for antibody-drug conjugate developer Tubulis, coming just days after Biogen acquired kidney disease-focused Apellis Pharmaceuticals for $5.6 billion.
