Novartis staff celebrate the company’s 25 years in San Diego outside the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in Torrey Pines. (Photo courtesy of the company)
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced Sunday that it will buy San Diego-based Avidity Biosciences in a $12 billion all-cash deal.
Founded in 2012, Avidity is developing a new class of RNA therapeutics called antibody oligonucleotide conjugates to treat genetic neuromuscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
“Avidity’s pioneering AOC platform for RNA therapeutics and its late-stage assets bolster our commitment to delivering innovative, targeted and potentially first-in-class medicines to treat devastating, progressive neuromuscular diseases,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis.
“The Avidity team has built robust programs with industry-leading delivery of RNA therapeutics to muscle tissue. We look forward to developing these programs to meaningfully change the trajectory of diseases for patients,” Narasimhan said.
Avidity stockholders will receive $72 per share in cash at closing, representing a premium of 46% over the stock’s closing price on Friday.
Novartis recently celebrated 25 years of operations in the San Diego region, and earlier this year announced plans to open a $1.1 billion global research hub here.
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