The transaction strengthens Novartis' neuroscience business with three programmes in the late development phase, according to a press release issued on Sunday evening. These programmes focus on genetic neuromuscular diseases.

The Swiss pharma giant is prepared to pay around $12 billion in cash for the programmes. Before the transaction is completed, Avidity will spin off its early cardiology programmes into a new company (SpinCo). According to Novartis, the transaction is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2026.

This content was published on Apr 11, 2025 Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis plans to invest a total of $23 billion in the US over the next five years to expand production and research.

“The Avidity team has built strong programmes with industry-leading delivery of RNA therapeutics to muscle tissue,” Novartis chief executive officer Vas Narasimhan was quoted as saying in the press release.“We look forward to advancing these programmes to transform the course of disease for patients.”

Novartis expects the acquisition to create market opportunities worth billions of dollars through planned product launches before 2030, according to the statement. This would increase the company's expected annual growth for the period between 2024 and 2029 from 5 to 6%. In the long term, growth is expected to increase in the mid-single-digit range.

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The takeover, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is subject to regulatory approvals and the approval of Avidity shareholders, who are being offered a premium of 46%. Until completion, both companies will remain independent.

Avidity is headquartered in San Diego, US, and has a product pipeline in early or mid-stage clinical trials. The company specialises in the research and development of drugs for rare genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other muscular diseases.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb