Tovorafenib

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. 

Servier plans to pay $2.5 billion to acquire Day One Biopharmaceuticals in a deal that will give it access to rare oncology medicines, including the marketed brain tumor treatment Ojemda. The French pharma said on Friday it will pay $21.50 a share $DAWN in cash, marking a 68% premium over Day One’s Thursday closing price. The California biotech went public in May 2021 at $16 a pop. The deal is slated to close in the second quarter and adds to a string of assets that Servier has brought in over the past six months. The deal marks at least the 10th biopharma acquisition so far this year, according to an Endpoints News tracker. Eli Lilly , GSK and Gilead have each forged multibillion-dollar deals this year as they look to expand their pipeline prowess for years to come. The acquisition is one of the largest deals in Servier’s 72-year history, David Lee, EVP and head of the company’s US unit, told Endpoints in an interview. Servier will gain “true leadership” in the brain cancer space with the acquisition, Lee said. Both companies have commercial-stage treatments for certain low-grade gliomas, and both medicines were greenlit by the FDA in 2024. Day One markets Ojemda for certain children with relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma. Ipsen has the ex-US rights. Servier, meanwhile, has Voranigo , a medicine for certain patients with grade 2 astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma. That also came via an acquisition, when Servier got hold of certain Agios programs in 2022. Ojemda reeled in $155.4 million in 2025, and last month Day One projected $225 million to $250 million in 2026 sales. Lee noted Day One was born after the Cancer Moonshot initiative, and “it was really to serve some of these unmet oncology medical needs.” Servier is run by a nonprofit foundation and he said the companies share “common DNA” through a focus on patients and innovation. In addition to Ojemda, Servier will gain two antibody-drug conjugates, which have been one of the most prized modalities in oncology drug development over the past few years. Day One got both of its ADCs through deals since the company doesn’t have a research department, CEO Jeremy Bender noted in an interview with Endpoints on the sidelines of the JP Morgan healthcare confab in January. “We’re just building muscle: building the muscle to continue to address persistent, urgent medical need in oncology,” Bender said in January. At the time, he outlined a vision for potentially building out a research organization, but that evolution was “still a ways out.” A week prior to the January interview, Day One completed its $129 million upfront acquisition of Mersana Therapeutics and its ADC called Emi-Le. The treatment candidate is in Phase 1 testing for adenoid cystic carcinoma. Emi-Le and Ojemda should eventually get Day One to $1 billion in revenue, Bender said at the time. Day One’s other ADC came in a 2024 deal with Shanghai-based MabCare Therapeutics . That investigational drug, codenamed DAY301 , targets PTK7 and is in Phase 1 for certain solid tumors. Day One has also done collaborations with startups like Sprint Bioscience and others.