Novartis Agrees to Buy The Medicines Company for US$ 9.7 Billion | 29 November, 2019

Novartis has agreed to buy New Jersey-headquartered The Medicines Company (MedCo) for US$ 9.7 billion. The buyout will give Novartis a late-stage PCSK9 therapy named inclisiran.

Inclisiran is a small, interfering RNA (siRNA) drug which works by blocking the synthesis of PCSK9 in the liver rather than targeting the protein itself.

This allows more receptors on the liver cell surfaced to capture LDL cholesterol to break down. By lowering LDL levels (popularly known as the ‘bad’ cholesterol), the likelihood of major cardiac events decreases.

“The prospect of bringing inclisiran to patients fits with our overall strategy to transform Novartis into a focused medicines company and adds an investigational therapy with the potential to be a significant driver of Novartis’ growth in the medium to long term,” Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said.

According to MedCo, the planned approval for inclisiran is set to be completed before the end of the year in the US, and in Europe in the first quarter of 2020, With Novartis picking up MedCo, the rumor mill is abuzz once again. Amarin is said to be another target of a big acquisition with an FDA decision on a heart-helping label expansion for Vascepa coming late next month and prescriptions for the lipid-lowering drug on the rise.

Some bullish investors also think the MedCo deal for PCSK9 candidate inclisiran could spell a buying boom in the cardiology space. They believe an Amarin deal could be worth more than US$ 20 billion, with suitors like Pfizer and Amgen speculated to be in the running. Amarin has not commented on these reports, which it terms as “rumour and speculation”.
(Source: PharmaCompass)