Novartis in China. The Swiss based pharmaceutical group, a company who just made the top 3 Company Rich List for Switzerland, is acquiring the start-up company Sanreno in China.

Founded in 2021, the Shanghai-based biotech company specializes in the treatment of kidney diseases and has two active ingredients in the late clinical development phase. This comes quickly after the announcement of a Gene Therapy Deal / rights acquisition from a US based company.

The transaction is one of the few takeovers of a Chinese biotech company by a multinational pharmaceutical company, Sanreno announced on Friday. Sanreno was founded as a joint venture between a consortium of investors and the US company Chinook Therapeutics.

Novartis China Chinook

Novartis acquired Chinook in the summer of 2023 for 3.2 billion dollars. The financial terms of the Sanreno purchase were not disclosed.

According to the statement, Sanreno holds the exclusive rights for the active ingredients Atrasentan and Zigakibart in Greater China and Singapore. Atrasentan showed a significant reduction in proteinuria (excessive excretion of proteins) in a phase 3 study and thus achieved the primary study objective. The antibody Zigakibart to combat the cytokine APRIL received approval in China in October 2023 for the start of phase 3 trials.

Could these acquisitions be a strategy for overcoming the loses they faced in 2023?

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