Novartis to Acquire Gyroscope Therapeutics for Up to $1.5 Billion
December 22 2021 - 2:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Cristina Roca
Novartis AG said Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement
to buy U.K.-based ocular gene therapy company Gyroscope
Therapeutics.
The Swiss pharmaceutical major will pay $800 million upfront and
agreed to potential additional milestone payments of up to $700
million.
The deal will add GT005, a one-time gene therapy for geographic
atrophy, to Novartis's pipeline. Geographic atrophy is a leading
cause of blindness in older people, and there are no approved
treatments for it, the company said. The treatment is currently in
Phase 2 trials.
"Gyroscope also has several additional assets in its pipeline in
early discovery for retinal diseases," Novartis said.
Novartis recently completed a deal to sell its stake in Roche
Holding AG back to its cross-town rival for $20.7 billion. It said
last week that it would buy back up to $15 billion of its shares,
but still have firepower to engage in mergers and acquisitions.
Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2021 02:35 ET (07:35 GMT)
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