Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG said on Oct. 26 it will acquire Avidity Biosciences Inc. for about $12 billion in cash, expanding its late-stage pipeline of RNA-based drugs for rare neuromuscular diseases.
Avidity stockholders will receive $72 per share in cash, representing a 46 percent premium to the company’s closing on Oct. 24.
Before the merger closes, Avidity will spin off its early-stage precision cardiology unit into a separate publicly traded company, SpinCo, which will be led by Kathleen Gallagher, Avidity’s current chief program officer.
Avidity CEO Sarah Boyce will serve as chair of SpinCo’s board. The acquisition gives Novartis access to Avidity’s Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugate (AOC) technology, a new kind of RNA medicine that uses antibodies to deliver genetic treatments directly to muscle cells, reaching disease-causing genes that traditional drugs cannot….