Novartis announced on November 21 that it has acquired Kate Therapeutics to further enhance and strengthen its ongoing efforts to advance gene therapies for patients.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kate Therapeutics’ shareholders are entitled to receive up to $1.1 billion, in a combination of upfront cash and potential milestone payments. The exact amount of the upfront payment was not disclosed.
San Diego-based Kate Therapeutics is a patient-focused biotechnology company developing adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined muscle and heart diseases. Kate is focused on preclinical programs aimed at Duchenne muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1.
Novartis AG is a global pharmaceutical company that researches, develops, manufactures and markets a range of healthcare products. According to its 2023 full year annual report, Novartis reported its annual revenue for 2023 was $46.7 billion, and EBITDA was approximately $18.2 billion.
Through the acquisition, Novartis will also gain ownership over Kate’s proprietary DELIVER capsid engineering platform. Novartis said it will continue to actively look for complementary businesses to acquire, though contracts are unlikely to exceed $3 billion.
This marks Novartis’ 10th acquisition during 2024, with all its deals being in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical sectors. Novartis’ largest deal of 2024 (so far) has been its acquisition of MorphoSys, a German biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for people living with cancer and autoimmune diseases. MorphoSys was acquired for €68 per share (or an aggregate of €2.7 billion, approximately $2.9 billion USD), according to a February 2024 deal announcement.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this acquisition marks the 125th Biotechnology transaction of the year. There were 161 Biotechnology deals announced during 2023, and 144 announced during 2022.
