Novartis to Acquire Myricx Bio for Up to $1.5 Billion
Novartis is buying UK biotech Myricx Bio for $1.1B upfront plus milestones, marking a major win for backer Sofinnova Partners.
Novartis is writing a pretty big check for its next biotech target. The Swiss pharma giant has agreed to acquire Myricx Bio, a UK-headquartered transatlantic biotech, for up to $1.5 billion — that's $1.1 billion in cold, hard cash upfront with the rest tied to future milestone payments, meaning Novartis pays more if the science delivers on its promise.
Myricx Bio focuses on discovering and developing a novel class of medicines, making it the kind of pipeline bet that large pharmaceutical companies love to make when they want to expand their research arsenal without building everything from scratch internally. Deals like this are essentially Novartis betting that Myricx's early-stage work is worth paying a premium to own outright rather than risk watching a competitor snap it up.
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The real champagne-popping moment here is for Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris and London that backed Myricx from early on. This acquisition marks Sofinnova's seventh exit in just three years — a striking clip that signals the firm has a sharp eye for picking biotech winners and getting them to the finish line. For VC firms, exits like this are the scoreboard that attracts future investors and founders alike.
Milestone-based deal structures, worth noting if you're new to biotech M&A, are standard practice in the industry. The acquiring company agrees to pay additional sums only when the target hits specific scientific or regulatory goals — think successful clinical trial results or FDA approvals. It lets buyers manage risk while still giving sellers a shot at a bigger total payday if everything goes right.
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