July 17 Quick Takes: Novartis acquires DTx for $500M up front

Through its acquisition of the San Diego-based  DTx Pharma Inc., Novartis AG (SIX:NOVN; NYSE:NVS) will get access to an siRNA platform for targeting tissues outside the liver, dubbed FALCON, that will build on the pharma’s internal xRNA platform and liver-targeting therapies such as Leqvio inclisiran. The deal also brings DTx’s lead preclinical candidate DTx-1252, which is in development for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 1A, and two neuroscience programs. With an upfront payment of $500 million, plus up to $500 million in milestones, the deal shows the pharma isn’t only shopping for late-stage assets it believes can deliver at least $2 billion in peak sales, such as its recent $3.2 billion purchase of Chinook Therapeutics Inc.

FDA approved Beyfortus nirsevimab from AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NASDAQ:AZN) and Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY) to prevent RSV in newborns, infants and toddlers. The long-acting mAb against respiratory syncytial virus F protein is approved in Canada, the EU and the U.K. Abrysvo, an RSVpreF maternal vaccine from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), has a PDUFA date in August...