Novartis to pay up to $1.75 billion for U.S. cancer-focused biotech

By Steve Goldstein

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG on Thursday said it will pay up to $1.75 billion for a U.S. biotech focused on cancer.

Novartis said it's paying $1 billion upfront and up to $750 million more in milestone payments for Mariana Oncology, a Watertown, Mass.-based preclinical-stage biotechnology company focused on cancers with high unmet patient needs.

Mariana Oncology is working on developing what's called radioligand therapies, or RLT, and is investigating a candidate for use in small-cell lung cancer.

Novartis has two approved RLTs for certain patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and certain types of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Novartis shares in Swiss trade (CH:NOVN) (NVS) were steady and have gained 5% this year.

-Steve Goldstein

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-02-24 0718ET

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.