Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Novartis completed its acquisition of Avidity Biosciences on February 27, 2026, at $72.00 per share in cash (~$12.0B equity value on a fully diluted basis, ~$11B enterprise value; ~46% premium to the undisturbed price). The deal, announced October 26, 2025, makes Avidity an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Novartis and adds Avidity's muscle-directed Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugate (AOC) platform plus three late-stage neuromuscular programs: del-desiran (delpacibart etedesiran) for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (Phase 3 HARBOR), del-brax (delpacibart braxlosiran) for FSHD (registrational FORTITUDE cohort), and del-zota (delpacibart zotadirsen) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy amenable to exon 44 skipping (FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation; EXPLORE44 OLE). Per the merger terms, Avidity's early-stage precision cardiology programs were separated immediately before close into a new company, Atrium Therapeutics, Inc. (SpinCo), whose shares were distributed pro rata to Avidity stockholders on February 26, 2026. Novartis frames the deal as strengthening its late-stage neuroscience pipeline and advancing its xRNA strategy, targeting product launches before 2030.