Novartis signs deal worth around $7.8 billion with China’s Abogen for RNA-based therapies

Chinese biotechnology company Abogen announced on Friday that it has signed a licensing and option agreement worth around $7.8 billion with Swiss drug giant Novartis to advance RNA-based therapy, as Reuters reports.

The agreement combines a licence with an option for further cooperation, a structure that gives Novartis access to Abogen’s platforms for developing RNA-based therapy, as Reuters reports. Full details of the scope of application and of the milestone payments were not made public in the announcement.

The news comes at a time when Chinese biotechnology is attracting international attention and Novartis is significantly increasing its investment in advanced therapies, including RNA-based platforms that gained particular importance after the pandemic, according to Reuters reporting.

The deal worth around $7.8 billion ranks among this year’s largest transactions in the field of pharmaceutical technology licensing between a Western company and a Chinese biotechnology firm, marking another step toward the global integration of innovation in RNA-based therapies.