Novartis in $575 mn deal with China's Abogen for RNA drugs

Swiss pharma giant Novartis has signed a deal to jointly develop RNA drugs with the Chinese lab Abogen Biosciences, including a potential new treatment for autoimmune diseases, the companies said Friday.

The deal calls for an initial payment by Novartis of $575 million to Abogen, rising to a potential $7.2 billion if development and sales goals are met.

"Achieving effective and durable immune reset remains an important goal across a number of autoimmune diseases," Novartis' head of biomedical research, Fiona Marshall, said in a statement.

Abogen's AMO2203 compound, a messenger RNA treatment, could help manage hard-to-treat diseases like lupus or multiple sclerosis, in which the body's immune system begins attacking healthy cells by mistake.

Abogen did not say if ABO2203 is already in clinical trials.

Novartis has shifted its focus to RNA and gene and cell therapies in recent years, seen as innovative technologies for developing neuroscience and immunology treatments.

"We are thrilled to be able to accelerate ABO2203 and unlock new therapeutic targets through this agreement with Novartis," Abogen's chief Bo Ying said in the statement.

The alliance comes after Novartis recently suffered setbacks for two promising drugs in crucial Phase III clinical trials.

In September it said its del-desiran drug for treating myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), a genetic muscle-wasting disease, had not shown sufficient improvements in patients.

That month it also said a highly anticipated heart disease treatment, pelacarsen, had not proven successful after a Phase III trial.

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