SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals

iStock, Deagreez Novartis and Unnatural Products did not specify which disease targets they’re going after, only noting that the latter’s macrocyclic platform can generate potentially next-generation therapies that could apply to cardiovascular conditions. Novartis is partnering with California’s Unnatural Products for $100 million upfront to advance novel macrocyclic peptides and unlock previously undruggable targets, potentially in the cardiovascular disease area. Under the terms of the agreement, announced in a news release Wednesday, Novartis is offering up to $1.7 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones in addition to the upfront fee. The biotech will also be eligible for royalties on net sales of products that make it to the market. At the heart of the partnership is UNP’s AI-driven engine that produces therapeutic synthetic peptides that can mimic the function of natural molecules called macrocycles, which can engage complex targets like biologics but are able to pass through the cell membrane easily like small-molecule drugs, according to the biotech’s website . This therapeutic approach—which UNP said offers “ the best of both worlds ”—has attracted investments from other biopharma players, including Merck in January 2024 for up to $220 million and argenx in July last year for potentially $1.5 billion. Novartis and UNP did not specify how many programs they plan to work on, nor did they reveal what particular disease targets they will address. The companies only said that the macrocyclic platform could yield “next-generation therapeutics with potential applications in the cardiovascular disease area.” Novartis will take charge of advancing the macrocyclic assets through investigational new drug-enabling studies and clinical development, as well as subsequent manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization activities. The UNP partnership will allow the pharma “to engage targets at a dose and with a pharmacological versatility not possible with many other approaches,” Muneto Mogi, Novartis’ global head of Global Discovery Chemistry, Biomedical Research, said in a statement. The alliance also fits into the company’s broader strategy of bulking up its early portfolio of products. During Novartis’ full-year 2025 earnings call, CEO Vas Narasimhan told investors that the pharma will continue “to build out our early-stage pipeline,” looking for “deals in the sub-$2-billion range.” Earnings Novartis Sticks With M&A Strategy of Building Early Pipeline, Searching for Near-Launches Novartis will still be on the lookout for early-stage deals under $2 billion, and later-stage agreements around a product that could reach the market within five years, CEO Vas Narasimhan said Wednesday. February 4, 2026 · 2 min read · Tristan Manalac In recent months, the pharma has indeed partnered with a clutch of biotechs for immature drug candidates. In September last year, Novartis bet up to $5.7 billion for Monte Rosa Therapeutics’ Phase 1 molecular glue for immune-mediated indications. Earlier this year, the company linked up with China’s SciNeuro for $165 million upfront and up to $1.5 billion in milestones, gaining a worldwide license to an early-stage anti-amyloid antibody for Alzheimer’s disease.

Biologics maker Paragon Therapeutics has spun out its seventh biotech startup, this time in pursuit of Roche in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Like Roche with trontinemab, Korsana Biosciences is attempting to deliver an antibody that shuttles across the blood-brain barrier to thwart the advancement of the memory-robbing disease. Korsana disclosed its lead asset Wednesday along with the news that it raised a $150 million Series A in September to help get to early clinical data. Investors included Fairmount, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Wellington Management, TCGX, JP Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Janus Henderson Investors and Foresite Capital. Sanofi’s venture arm, one of the most active biotech investors of late, also took part. The nine-figure Series A marks at least the 15th megaround that private biotech startups have disclosed so far this year. The Waltham, MA-based startup was seeded with $25 million in 2024. The biotech’s battle against Alzheimer’s is much further behind than Roche’s trontinemab program, which is seen as a leading shot in the next wave of Alzheimer’s treatments and entered a set of large Phase 3 trials last year. Trontinemab “is not the end of the road — we do not think it’s the best you can do for these patients,” Korsana CEO Jonathan Violin said in an interview with Endpoints News. Korsana anticipates entering Phase 1/2 with its candidate KRSA-028 around the end of this year or early next year. It expects Phase 1 healthy volunteer results in mid-2027 and then initial data on KRSA-028’s amyloid plaque-clearing capabilities around the end of that year. The nimble 17-employee startup is betting one of its advantages will be a delivery route that eliminates the need to go to infusion centers, Violin said. Korsana is cooking up a subcutaneously delivered medicine, whereas Roche is testing an IV-formulated antibody. Korsana also hopes to tamp down on concerning side effects that have affected the inaugural class of approved amyloid-targeted medicines, namely Eli Lilly’s Kisunla and Biogen and Eisai’s Leqembi. While those treatments ended a bleak “graveyard” period for Alzheimer’s drug development, they can carry the risk of concerning side effects known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, which can signal brain swelling and bleeding. ARIAs are a “challenge for anyone to contemplate,” Violin said. That’s one way that trontinemab has changed the game so far in clinical testing. “The data that Roche has released is compelling, not only to take less drug, but plaques are cleared much more quickly, much more robustly and the rate of ARIA is substantially diminished,” Violin said. Other companies want to join Roche in the brain-shuttle arena. AbbVie acquired Aliada for $1.4 billion in 2024. Novartis has launched a broad approach through pacts with SciNeuro , Sironax and BioArctic . The latter is also teaming with Bristol Myers Squibb and Eisai . Roche itself is doubling down on the blood-brain-barrier approach with Manifold Bio , among others. With the competitive pressure dialed up, Korsana is staying relatively quiet on development plans, including which stage of Alzheimer’s progression it intends to attack and what type of treatment course it’s eyeing. Leqembi is meant to be taken chronically, while Lilly’s Kisunla is supposed to be stopped after amyloid plaques sink to a certain level. The best data so far are in mild cognitive impairment, but some analyses suggest that “earlier intervention is better,” Violin said. “We’ll see some data readouts from companies like Lilly before we need to make decisions.” Kisunla is in a Phase 3 trial of patients with preclinical Alzheimer’s. Korsana’s existing funds will get the startup past its early clinical data readouts, Violin said. The company’s runway goes into 2028. With the padded reserves, Korsana can remain “opportunistic” on its next financing steps, Violin said. Other Paragon spinouts made quick leaps onto public markets. Spyre Therapeutics , Oruka Therapeutics and Crescent Biopharma all announced reverse mergers at the time of their unveilings. (Violin was CEO of Crescent when it decided to jump onto the Nasdaq.) Another Paragon offshoot, Jade Biosciences , went the reverse merger route just a few months after disclosing its launch. Apogee Therapeutics took a traditional IPO path. All of those companies have done private placements or additional financings since going public.

Created with Canva Dreamlab † Novartis will still be on the lookout for early-stage deals under $2 billion, and later-stage agreements around a product that could reach the market within five years, CEO Vas Narasimhan said Wednesday. After back-to-back-to-back big-ticket acquisitions in 2025, Novartis appears to have no plans to slow down. CEO Vas Narasimhan told reporters Wednesday that the pharma’s dealmaking strategy will remain largely the same in 2026, with the goal of beefing up both its early- and late-stage pipelines. “There’s really no change in our M&A strategy,” Narasimhan said Wednesday morning during a media call to present the pharma’s 2025 earnings results. “We’ve been really consistent in wanting to build out our early-stage pipeline” with deals in the “sub-$2-billion range.” At the same time, Novartis is also on the lookout to “bring in medicines that could launch in the next five years,” Narasimhan added. To this end, he pointed out, the pharma has taken several major steps: Last October, the company acquired Avidity Biosciences for approximately $12 billion in an agreement that would turn out to be one of 2025’s largest . The previous month, the pharma made a $1.4 billion bet to swallow Tourmaline Bio, which followed a $3.1 billion play in February 2025 to absorb the privately held Anthos Therapeutics. All three of these acquisitions gave Novartis a clutch of mid- to late-stage assets to advance to the market. obesity JPM26: Novartis Doesn’t Have a GLP-1. They Don’t Miss It In a World Of Me-Toos Speaking to BioSpace at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novartis’ chief dealmaker Ronny Gal explains why the Swiss pharma hasn’t acquired a GLP-1, and why it probably won’t. January 13, 2026 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong In between these buyouts, Novartis also inked a flurry of agreements for earlier-stage assets. These include a $5.7 billion deal with Monte Rosa to develop molecular glue degraders, a $1.7 billion AI-heavy contract with Relation to design drugs for atopic dermatitis and a $1.5 billion partnership with China’s SciNeuro for an anti-amyloid antibody for Alzheimer’s disease. “We really don’t look at the size of the deal,” Narasimhan told reporters. Instead, the company is focused on how a particular asset or company fits into its overall pipeline strategy. Novartis’ net sales in 2025 grew 8% year-on-year at constant currencies, exceeding $54.5 billion . The pharma’s best-selling product was the heart failure drug Entresto, which brought in nearly $7.75 billion in 2025—though this represented a 2% decrease from the same period the year prior. Growth was mainly driven by the breast cancer therapy Kisqali, which jumped 57% year-on-year to earn $4.78 billion, and the prostate cancer radioconjugate Pluvicto, which made $1.99 billion, a 42% increase. Scemblix, approved for the treatment of certain types of chronic myeloid leukemia, surged 85% to hit 2025 sales of $1.29 billion. Novartis forecasts continued stability and growth for 2026, with net sales anticipated to increase by a low-single-digit percentage.