No­var­tis plots 'next fron­tier' of MS treat­ment — and it could spell a buy­out for a small Swiss play­er

A cou­ple of months af­ter get­ting its self-ad­min­is­tered mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis drug Kes­imp­ta cleared by EU reg­u­la­tors, No­var­tis has found what it be­lieves is “the next fron­tier” of MS treat­ment at a Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich spin­out — and it’s al­ready lay­ing the ground­work for a buy­out.

No­var­tis struck a deal to de­vel­op Cellerys’ cell ther­a­py CLS12311, which is de­signed to in­duce anti­gen-spe­cif­ic im­mune tol­er­ance in MS pa­tients, the phar­ma said on Tues­day. The drug­mak­ers have been in talks for sev­er­al years, ac­cord­ing to a No­var­tis spokesper­son, and up­on com­ple­tion of a Phase II tri­al in “com­ing years,” the phar­ma will have a chance to ac­quire Cellerys.

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