Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
In January 2024 Novartis entered two exclusive license and collaboration agreements with Shanghai Argo Biopharmaceutical for cardiovascular siRNA (RNAi) programs from Argo's RADS platform, paying $185M upfront against total potential consideration exceeding $4.16B in option and milestone payments plus tiered royalties. The alliance has since matured: in June 2025 BW-00163 (QCZ484), one of the assets covered by this agreement, advanced into a Phase 2 hypertension trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06857955), triggering a milestone payment to Argo. Novartis and Argo subsequently expanded their relationship with a third transaction in September 2025 ($160M upfront, up to ~$5.2B), underscoring the durability of the original 2024 deal thesis.