Angelini seeks US beachhead with $4.1bn Catalyst buy

Italy's Angelini Pharma has agreed to buy Catalyst Pharma of the US for up to $4.1 billion, saying the deal is a "pivotal moment" in its 100-year-plus history.

Privately held Angelini will pay $31.50 per share for Nasdaq-listed Catalyst, a 28% premium to its average trading price over the last four weeks. If the transaction is completed, it will mark the Italian company's entry into the US market.

Buying Catalyst will give Angelini ownership of three FDA-approved products for neuromuscular diseases and epilepsy that generated $589 million in sales last year and have been forecast to reach up to $645 million in 2026.

Catalyst's top-selling product is Firdapse (amifampridine) for the neuromuscular disorder Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) – which accounted for $358 million of its 2025 revenues – and it is likely no coincidence that the agreement with Angelini has been announced on the same day that the company settled a patent dispute over the product with India's Hetero Labs.

That settlement has averted the risk of Hetero launching a generic version of Firdapse, prior to the lapse of the product's US patent protection, which Catalyst said will expire in January 2035. Catalyst has previously settled patent litigation with three other generic drugmakers, Lupin, Teva, and Inventia, and no other lawsuits are pending.

Along with Firdapse, Catalyst also sells Agamree (vamorolone) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which grew 154% to $117 million last year, and epilepsy therapy Fycompa (perampanel), which is now exposed to generic competition in the US and shrank 17% to $113 million.

For Angelini, which specialises in central nervous system diseases, rare diseases, and speciality and consumer medicines, this is the first M&A deal since 2021, when it bought Swiss epilepsy and CNS specialist Arvelle Therapeutics for up to $960 million in 2021. Adding Catalyst will result in a jump in Angelini's revenues, which were around $1.9 billion in 2024.

The chief executive of the family-owned business, Sergio Marullo di Condojanni, said that buying Catalyst is another significant step forward in a five-year-old project to turn Angelini into a company that is "capable of competing at the highest global level."

A focus on CNS disorders is one of the pillars of that strategy, he added, which has also been built through other deals, such as an alliance with GRIN Therapeutics on the development of radiprodil for epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders, and the licensing of another epilepsy candidate from Sovargen, both signed last year.

"The acquisition of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals […] will establish Angelini Pharma as a relevant global player in neurological rare diseases," said Marullo di Condojanni.

"Entering the US market will allow us to acquire the scale and capabilities needed to continue this journey."