Novartis agrees to buy Avidity for $12 billion

Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX) revealed that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Avidity Biosciences (Nasdaq: RNA), a San Diego, USA-based, biopharmaceutical company focused on a new class of therapeutics enabling RNA delivery to muscle.

The news, announced on Sunday, pushed Avidity’s shares up 42.5% to $70.05 in pre-market activity today, while those of Novartis dipped 1% in early trading.

“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, chief executive of Novartis, adding: “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.”