Regulus Therapeutics, Inc.

iStock, Diki Prayogo Executives at Novartis have not been shy about a desire to buy more companies, with cardiovascular a big focus. In total, the Swiss pharma has put $17.23 billion on the line in M&A and licensing deals this year. Novartis’ business development team sure has been busy. The Swiss pharma has notched three deals this month alone, including Tuesday’s $1.4 billion acquisition of cardiovascular biotech Tourmaline Bio. Earlier in the month, Novartis revealed two licensing deals, with Argo Biopharmaceutical and Arrowhead Pharma, worth a combined $7.56 billion in total potential deal value. In total this year, Novartis has put $17.23 billion on the line in M&A and licensing deals. The Tourmaline transaction will give Novartis access to an IL-6 targeting program for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) with the monocloncal antibody pacibekitug. BMO Capital Markets Tuesday morning said that Novartis offered a 37% premium in transaction value for the therapy, reflecting its best-in-class profile. The drug will compete with Novo Nordisk’s Phase III therapy ziltivekimab, which was acquired via Corvidia Therapeutics for $725 million in 2020. Novartis has been eager to fill up its pipeline, as the chronic heart failure medicine Entresto is expected to lose its patent exclusivity this year. Novartis will also contend with generic competition for Xolair this year and Jakafi next. Cosentyx and Tafinlar will also fall out of patent protection before the end of 2030. During a second-quarter earnings call in July, CFO Harry Kirsch said that Novartis is looking for “value-creating bolt-on deals.” The business development team—headed by Chief Strategy Growth Officer Ronny Gal—has signed 30 deals over the past two years, Kirsch noted. Kirsch specifically named the Regulus Therapeutics transaction from April as an example of the type of deal Novartis will be looking for going forward. That deal totaled $1.7 billion and bolstered Novartis’ oligonucleotide portfolio with the addition of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) therapy farabursen. In late 2024, Novartis executives indicated a desire to have multiple assets in the clinic for arrhythmia by the end of 2025. Asked about this during the earnings call, CEO Vas Narasimhan said the goal remains top of mind. The company signed several licensing deals for preclinical assets to accomplish this—including one with Flagship Pioneering’s ProFound Therapeutics in June. “We see this as an area where we have unique expertise, probably one of the few companies still going after addressing cardiac arrhythmias,” Narasimhan told analysts on the call. “And obviously, if successful, market sizes here are quite large and the opportunity to use a medicine versus using the device-based cardio version is quite compelling for patients.”

iStock, Tamer Soliman Novartis and Argo Biopharma go back to January 2024, when the pharma first bet up to $4.165 billion across two RNAi agreements targeting cardiovascular diseases. Novartis and Shanghai-based Argo Biopharmaceutical are deepening their relationship with a new multibillion-dollar agreement that will see the partners work on multiple siRNA assets for cardiovascular targets. Under the terms of the deal, announced Wednesday, Novartis will front Argo $160 million and commit up to $5.2 billion in milestone and option payments. Argo, meanwhile, will additionally be entitled to tiered royalties. Novartis and Argo first linked up in January 2024 with two license and collaboration agreements for investigational cardiovascular RNAi therapies. Those initial deals totaled $185 million upfront plus up to $4.165 billion in milestones. Wednesday’s new agreement covers “multiple” cardiovascular candidates from Argo’s pipeline, though the companies did not specify how many assets they will work on together. Argo brings to the table its siRNA drug discovery engine, which aims to produce more stable, long-acting siRNA molecules, according to its website . These long-acting siRNA therapies “represent an important paradigm shift in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases,” Shaun Coughlin, global head of Cardiovascular and Metabolism at Novartis Biomedical Research, said in the companies’ announcement. The Argo agreements, he added, strengthen “our efforts to advance potential new therapies that address unmet medical needs.” Novartis’ $5.2 billion-plus bet with Argo is the third—and heftiest—deal the pharma has signed in just over a week. On Aug. 26, Novartis put $772 million on the line in a collaboration with BioArctic, gaining access to its BrainTransporter platform to advance therapies for neurodegenerative diseases that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Then, on Tuesday, the pharma joined up with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to develop an RNAi therapy for Parkinson’s disease, paying $200 million upfront and pledging up to $2 billion in milestones. Novartis has been busy in dealmaking this year. In June, for instance, the company signed a $750-million-per-target agreement with Flagship Pioneering’s ProFound Therapeutics for protein therapies for cardiovascular diseases. And in April, the company paid $800 million upfront and bet up to $1.7 billion to acquire Regulus Therapeutics , gaining ownership of the oligonucleotide farabursen, being developed for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. A few months earlier, in February, Novartis dropped $3.1 billion to buy the privately held Anthos Therapeutics, gaining ownership of the anticoagulant antibody abelacimab.

Bengaluru: Swiss drugmaker Novartis has approached U.S. biotech Avidity Biosciences for a potential takeover offer, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of Avidity rose 23% to $47.1. It has a market value of $4.6 billion, according to LSEG data. Novartis has been evaluating a bid for Avidity and expressed interest in an acquisition in recent weeks, the report said, in a move aimed at boosting the drugmaker's pipeline of medicines targeting rare genetic disorders . The discussions were at an early stage, the report said, adding that the sources had cautioned that another suitor could emerge or talks could collapse. Avidity, which has been developing treatments for rare muscle disorders, is working with advisers to assess options, the people added. Novartis and Avidity declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Del-zota, Avidity's lead drug, is in early to mid-stage development as a potential treatment for a rare form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The company is also working on two other drugs for serious muscle diseases. Novartis has been actively striking deals in 2025 as it looks to bolster its drug pipeline and drive future growth. In February, Novartis agreed to acquire Anthos Therapeutics for $3.1 billion to enhance its cardiovascular portfolio. The company also struck a deal in April valued at up to $1.7 billion to acquire Regulus Therapeutics, gaining access to an experimental treatment for a serious kidney disease. Additionally, last month Novartis partnered with Matchpoint Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $1 billion to develop oral medicines targeting several inflammatory conditions. (Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shailesh Kuber)