Novartis to buy Chinook for up to $3.5 bln in boost to late-stage pipeline (updated)

Chinook Therapeutics

12/06/2023 06:52

(Adds details on Chinook drug candidates from fifth paragraph)
    By Ludwig Burger
       June 12 (Reuters) - 
    Novartis  NOVN.S  said on Monday it agreed to acquire
Seattle-based biotech firm Chinook Therapeutics  KDNY.O  for up
to $3.5 billion to boost its late-stage drug development line-up
with a new treatment for a rare severe kidney disease.
  
    The transaction, in the form of a merger of a newly formed
Novartis subsidiary and Chinook, is expected to close in the
second half of 2023, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement.
    Under the agreed deal, Chinook shareholders would receive
$3.2 billion, or $40 per share, in cash plus a contingent value
right worth up to $300 million, depending on certain regulatory
achievements, it said.
    Chinook shares closed at $23.99 on Friday.
        The U.S. biotech firm expects to see the pivotal readout
in the fourth quarter of this year of a clinical trial in the
third and last stage of development of oral drug candidate
atrasentan to treat a kidney disease known as IgAN.
  
        Chinook also has zigakibart, another experimental IgAN
treatment, under development and plans to start a Phase 3 in the
third quarter of 2023.
  
        
  

 (Additional reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Kim
Coghill)
 ((Miranda.Murray@thomsonreuters.com;))