Novartis in $9.7bn deal to buy cholesterol drugmaker

Swiss drug company Novartis has agreed to buy The Medicines Co for $9.7 billion, as it focuses on expanding its cardiovascular portfolio.

Novartis announced the acquisition, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, yesterday, November 24.

Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said: “We are excited about entering into an agreement to acquire The Medicines Company as inclisiran is a potentially transformational medicine that reimagines the treatment of atherosclerotic heart disease and familial hypercholesterolemia.”

As part of the deal, Novartis will gain US-based The Medicines Co’s top drug candidate, cholesterol-lowering drug inclisiran.

Narasimhan added: “The prospect of bringing inclisiran to patients also fits with our overall strategy to transform Novartis into a focused medicines company and adds an investigational therapy with the potential to be a significant driver of Novartis’ growth in the medium to long term.”

According to Novartis, more than 50 million patients worldwide are unable to control their high cholesterol with the current standard of care.

The Medicines Company expects to file regulatory submissions for inclisiran in the US in the fourth quarter of 2019 and in Europe in the first quarter of 2020.

This isn’t the only billion-dollar acquisition Novartis has made in 2019—in May, Novartis announced it would acquire assets associated with Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution), a dry eye treatment, from Takeda for $3.4 billion upfront, with potential milestone payments of $1.9 billion.

In May 2018, Novartis strengthened its gene therapy expertise with the $8.7 billion addition of Nasdaq-listed AveXis to its portfolio.

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