No­var­tis re­turns to the dis­count aisle, buys Xo­ma's failed PhI­II drug for $31M

Two years af­ter a Phase III flop for its lead drug gevok­izum­ab put Xo­ma $XO­MA un­der a dark cloud, No­var­tis has stepped up to buy the drug and help re­lieve the fi­nan­cial strain at the biotech.

One look at this deal and you can see that No­var­tis CEO Joe Jimenez is dead se­ri­ous when he says he won’t pay top dol­lar for biotech as­sets.

In a bot­tom feed­ing ex­pe­di­tion, the phar­ma gi­ant has agreed to pay $31 mil­lion for gevok­izum­ab, which in­cludes $5 mil­lion for an eq­ui­ty stake. No­var­tis is al­so set­tling a €12 mil­lion bill out­stand­ing with Les Lab­o­ra­toires Servi­er while re­struc­tur­ing its own loan to Xo­ma.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER