Rumour mill says Novartis may want to buy Avidity

Novartis has made an offer to acquire RNA therapeutic specialist Avidity Biosciences, according to an unconfirmed report in the Financial Times.

According to people familiar with the matter, Novartis is looking for deals that would add to its pipeline of medicines for rare genetic disorders, said the FT in its report. Neither Novartis nor Avidity have commented on the speculation, and there's no indication of what Novartis might be prepared to pay as the talks are reported to be in the early stages.

Avidity had a market value of $5.8 billion at the time of writing – after a 26% rise in its share price driven by the rumour of an impending offer.

If a deal is confirmed and consummated, Novartis would claim ownership of a biotech that has raised something of a stir in the sector in the last couple of years, fuelled by encouraging results for an experimental therapy for antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) delpacibart zotadirsen (del-zota) for a form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

San Diego-based Avidity is preparing to file for approval of the therapy before the end of this year in DMD patients with exon 44-skipping mutations, and has also reported encouraging clinical results with candidates from its proprietary AOC platform for other neuromuscular disorders, including myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

The biotech has started building its commercial operations in anticipation of its first regulatory approval, helped by hefty cash reserves of around $1.4 billion that it has said will keep it running until mid-2027, but tapping into Novartis' marketing muscle and reach could accelerate the development and rollout of del-zota, if approved, and its wider AOC platform.

Del-zota will address a relatively small market of around 900 patients in the US, but the other candidates in its platform have larger target populations and all three have a clear line of sight to potential launch.

Following after del-zota is delpacibart etedesiran (del-desiran) for the approximately 80,000 people in the US and Europe living with DM1, another rare, progressive, and life-shortening neuromuscular disease. Avidity said last month it had completed enrolment in the phase 3 HARBOR trial of del-desiran, with results due in the second quarter of 2026.

FSHD candidate delpacibart braxlosiran (del-brax), meanwhile, is being prepared for a phase 3 programme at the same time as an accelerated approval filing – based on mid-stage trial results – is being prepared for the second half of 2026. There are estimated to be between 45,000 and 87,000 people with FSHD in the US and Europe.

There has been an uptick in M&A activity in the pharma space this year, after a slow 2024. Oppenheimer has reported that deals worth up to $78 billion have been agreed so far this year, compared to $45 billion in the whole of 2024, according to the FT.