Vorasidenib

The crown jewel of a transaction with Servier is no doubt Day One Biopharmaceuticals\' Ojemda (tovorafenib), a type 2 RAF inhibitor approved in 2024 to treat patients 6 months and older with relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma. \n As nonprofit-governed Servier continues to make gains with its IDH-mutant glioma med Voranigo, the drugmaker is wading deeper into the rare oncology arena with a new M&A play. Servier on Friday unveiled a definitive agreement to acquire Day One Biopharmaceuticals—a commercial-stage company developing targeted therapies for pediatric cancers and other diseases—for $21.50 per share in cash. The total value of the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, comes to roughly $2.5 billion, the companies said in a March 6 release. The crown jewel of the transaction is no doubt Day One’s Ojemda (tovorafenib), a type 2 RAF inhibitor approved by the FDA in April 2024 to treat patients ages 6 months and older with relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG), a more advanced stage of the common childhood brain tumor. That drug will likely mesh well with Servier’s Voranigo, also approved in 2024 under a different glioma niche in patients 12 years and older with a susceptible IDH1 or IDH2 mutation. Servier acquired that drug by way of transaction, too, picking Voranigo up in its 2021 purchase of Agios Pharmaceuticals for $2 billion. Over on the R&D side of things, Servier will also be able to tap into Day One’s early- to late-stage pipeline, which includes additional programs for tovorafenib in pediatric low-grade gliomas, plus assets running through development in indications like adenoid cystic carcinoma and adult and pediatric solid tumors.  Servier says it plans to fund the deal through a mix of existing cash and investments. The company’s share price offer reflects a premium of roughly 68% over Day One’s closing price March 5, according to the companies’ press announcement. “In less than a decade, we have built a durable oncology platform in the United States,” David Lee, CEO of Servier’s U.S. arm, told Fierce in an emailed statement Friday. “That didn’t happen through short-term thinking—it came from sustained investment in science, infrastructure and people.”He reiterated Servier’s ambition to “lead in rare cancers,” noting that for these patients, “progress often depends on a small number of people and organizations choosing to commit when others will not.” Lee continued, “When the science is promising and the need is urgent, we believe it is our responsibility to build the capabilities that can turn discovery into real outcomes for patients.”Servier has long leaned on its patient-centric ethos—credited to its unique governance model under the nonprofit Fondation Internationale de Recherche Servier—as one of the company’s key strengths and distinguishing features. Lee remarked similarly on the company’s governance model allowing Servier “to do things that other companies can’t” and “invest in diseases that other people would not be able to make a business case for” during an interview with Fierce Pharma at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in 2025. At the time, Lee noted that the landscape for brain cancer treatment remained “pretty open,” adding that, in terms of potential external opportunities for Servier, “anything mutation-driven is still good for us … but we’re open to any [glioblastomas], gliomas or astrocytomas.”Taking a look at the population Ojemda addresses, the FDA has specifically cleared the RAF inhibitor in relapsed or refractory pLGG patients with a BRAF fusion or rearrangement, or BRAF V600 mutation. PLGG is the most common type of childhood brain tumor, with BRAF alterations making up about 1,100 of 1,500 new diagnoses each year. Outside the U.S., Ojemda also won a positive recommendation for approval in the same indication in Europe late last month, a region where Ipsen holds licensing rights to the Day One drug. Servier is making its latest oncology play as the drugmaker seeks to achieve 10 billion euros ($11.5 billion) in annual sales by 2030. After a successful showing in its 2024-25 financial year, which ended in September with 16.2% growth to 6.9 billion euros ($8.2 billion), the group’s president, Olivier Laureau, said in January that Servier was “one important step closer” to meeting that target. Servier didn’t mince words about Voranigo’s contribution to its earnings haul last year, noting that its overall oncology business grew 55% in the 2024-25 fiscal period, with the unit’s contribution toward Servier’s overall revenue rising to 32% from 24% in the previous period.  Servier has been busy on the oncology dealmaking front, last year licensing a phase 1 asset from Black Diamond Therapeutics for RAF/RAS-mutant solid tumors, acquiring a phase 1/2 leukemia candidate from BioNova Pharmaceuticals and obtaining ex-U.S. rights to Ideaya Biosciences’ potential first-in-class PKC inhibitor darovasertib under development in uveal melanoma—not to mention an oncology drug discovery pact with artificial intelligence biotech Insilico Medicine made in January. As of late, the company has also been working to bolster its offerings in neurology.