It’s been a busy week for Swiss healthcare giant Novartis. In a series of days, the company said it’s slowing trials of its blockbuster cancer drug and slashing hundreds of jobs — and attempting to snap up a German drugmaker on the side.
Novartis said on Thursday that it has made a tender offer to acquire MorphoSys, the developer of treatment for certain types of blood cancers. A tender offer is an invitation for shareholders to sell their shares for a specific price over a certain period of time.
Novartis is offering to buy all outstanding shares of MorphoSys for 68 euros ($73) a share, a premium of 142% on the volume-weighted average price during the last three months, as of January 25, 2024. Shareholders will have until May 13 to accept the deal. The management and supervisory boards of MorphoSys recommend shareholders to agree to the take over. The companies expect the deal to close in the first half of the year, if certain conditions are met including a a minimum acceptance threshold of 65%.
“The proposed acquisition by Novartis is in the best interest of MorphoSys, our shareholders and cancer patients – helping to accelerate commercial and development opportunities across our promising oncology pipeline,” said MorphoSys Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Kress, in a statement.
⏸️ Novartis pauses recruitment of cancer drug trial
The news comes just days after Novartis paused the enrollment of new patients in clinical trials testing its headline-grabbing drug Kisqali for early breast cancer. The treatment has already been approved for advanced and metastatic breast cancer.
The move comes in response to new guidance issued by the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year on the acceptable limit of nitrosamine impurities in medications. Novartis said in a statement on April 9 that that it was making manufacturing adjustments to ensure compliance with the standard. “This does not impact patient use or commercial supply of Kisqali in its approved indication of metastatic breast cancer,” the company added.
Kisqali generated over $2 billion in sales for the company in 2023.
✂️ Job cuts ahead
On April 9, the company also announced it was cutting 680 jobs from its product development division.
Of those cuts about 440 will be made in Switzerland and 240 in the United States in the next to three years, Reuters reported. The company told Fierce Pharma the cuts would be made in parallel with a build up of roles in “certain locations.”