Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG is selling off its India-listed business unit, Novartis India Ltd. (NIL), to a private equity-led consortium for about ₹14.46 billion (US$159.3 million) as it seeks to grow with “pure-play innovation.”
In a deal worth up to $1.8 billion for oral macrocyclic peptide developer Unnatural Products Inc., Novartis AG has signed a research collaboration and licensing agreement for an undisclosed program.
The structurally similar cytokines IL-2 and IL-15, and their shared beta subunit CD122, are keeping developers busy across a range of indications. Though some scientific confusion has plagued the space historically, drug candidates have drawn deals and Wall Street interest aplenty. Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, and Incyte Corp. are among those who’ve made their interest known.
Offering $2.2 billion for Rapt Therapeutics Inc. and gaining its long-acting lead drug, ozureprubart, for food allergy and other indications, GSK plc is positioning itself to compete with market leader Xolair (omalizumab), developed by Roche AG’s Genentech unit and Novartis AG.
With rumors regarding a couple of potential mega-mergers making the rounds, the week of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference kicked off with the official disclosure of some billion-dollar collaborations, leading with Abbvie Inc.’s exclusive licensing deal with Remegen Co. Ltd. for PD-1/VEGF-targeted bispecific antibody RC-148.
With rumors regarding a couple of potential mega-mergers making the rounds, the week of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference kicked off with the official disclosure of some billion-dollar collaborations, leading with Abbvie Inc.’s exclusive licensing deal with Remegen Co. Ltd. for PD-1/VEGF-targeted bispecific antibody RC-148.
Novartis AG’s monoclonal antibody, ianalumab (VAY-736), when added to standard-of-care eltrombopag, extended disease control of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) by 45%, according to data presented Dec. 9 during a late-breaker abstract session at the 67th American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Fourteen therapies to treat moderate to severe psoriasis are expected to enter the Chinese market in the next two years, according to Clarivate and BioWorld reports. Eleven of them are being developed by domestic biopharmaceutical firms.
Relation Therapeutics Ltd. will collaborate with Novartis AG in a $1.7 billion deal to develop multiple programs to find and advance targets for treating atopic diseases caused by immune dysregulation. Novartis will pay Relation an up-front amount, an equity investment and R&D funding of $55 million. It’s the company’s second deal with big pharma in the past 12 months.
.webp?height=488&t=1769119579&width=650 "Molecular model of interleukin-15 (IL-15)")
