الثلاثاء, يناير 2nd 2024
Novartis new gene therapy deal is potentially worth billions of dollars. The new deal involves acquiring rights to a therapy created by Voyager.
The US company will initially receive an upfront payment of 100 million dollars from Novartis as part of the partnership. This includes the acquisition of newly issued Voyager shares worth 20 million dollars, as Voyager announced on Tuesday.
In addition, the biotech company can expect success-based milestone payments of up to 1.2 billion dollars as well as royalties on potential future sales of products containing a specific Voyager technology.
Novartis, recently made the top 3 richest Swiss company list at the end of 2023, are now partnered with two companies intend to collaborate on the development of gene therapies for Huntington’s disease (HD) and for the treatment of muscle atrophy (SMA).
Among other things, Novartis will receive the global rights to a gene therapy from Voyager for the treatment of Huntington’s disease – a rare hereditary brain disorder. The US company will be responsible for preclinical development, while Novartis will be responsible for all clinical development and subsequent commercialisation.
Voyager shares rose by 35 percent in pre-market trading on Wall Street following the news.
Gene and cell therapy is seen as a great hope for the future in the fight against various diseases. Pharmaceutical giants around the world are investing billions in this approach. Gene therapies aim to cure diseases by replacing the missing or defective version of a gene in a patient’s cells with an intact gene.
Novartis itself has launched the SMA gene therapy Zolgensma, which the Group secured with a multi-billion dollar takeover and which, with a list price of more than 2 million dollars for a single treatment, is considered the most expensive drug in the world.
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