Novartis will pay $1 billion upfront to acquire radiopharmaceutical startup Mariana Oncology, just eight months after the preclinical biotech company disclosed a $175 million Series B.
The move, which could include another $750 million in milestones, further solidifies the Swiss drug giant’s embrace of the red-hot field of radiopharmaceuticals. Novartis markets two such medicines, Lutathera and Pluvicto, and just earlier this week expanded its radiopharma discovery tie-up with PeptiDream.
Radiopharmaceuticals are part of a boom in oncology in which researchers have sought to precisely target cancer-killing therapies to the right cells, in this case by delivering a radioactive compound to a tumor cell.
Novartis is likely looking to cement its future in the field after its peers Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca inked their own large radiopharma deals. Novartis has also won an adolescent approval for Lutathera last month and plans for an expanded label for the prostate cancer treatment Pluvicto. The two treatments brought in a combined $479 million in the first quarter.
Shiva Malek“We were really trying to be intentional, very thoughtful and decisive about where we go next in the [radioligand therapy] space, given we have a significant internal RLT research and development pipeline,” Shiva Malek, global head of oncology for Novartis’ biomedical research, said in an interview with Endpoints News.
The company’s conversations with Novartis started at this January’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Mariana CEO Simon Read told Endpoints. The deal is expected to close this Friday after having already received FTC clearance, he said.
The buyout is likely a big return on investment for Mariana shareholders. The startup was valued at $313 million at the time of its Series B, according to venture data firm PitchBook. Read declined to comment on valuation.
It marks at least the fourth acquisition for Novartis so far this year, including inflammatory disease startup IFM Due, autoimmune biotech Calypso and longtime partner MorphoSys.
Simon ReadBy buying Watertown, MA-based Mariana, Novartis gets access to a pipeline of peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for various solid tumors, as well as a manufacturing facility.
Mariana’s lead radioligand therapy, called MC-339, is expected to enter human studies in the second half of this year for small cell lung cancer, Read said.
“It gives us the chance to expand the repertoire of patient populations that we will take our projects into, so it’s a really exciting opportunity to have that partner on board that can broaden the impact of our medicines in the clinic,” Read said.
Novartis and Mariana will have a “light touch integration,” Read said, so that it maintains the “look and feel of a biotech company that retains its agility and momentum.” Senior management from both companies will be on a joint steering committee, he said.
All of Mariana’s approximately 70 employees are expected to stay at the company, Read said.
