Novartis To Purchase AveXis For $8.7 Bln Cash - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Novartis (NVS) announced an agreement to acquire the US-based clinical stage gene therapy company AveXis, Inc. (AVXS) for $218 per share or a total of $8.7 billion in cash.

Both the companies boards approved this transaction, which is expected to close in mid 2018.

Novartis noted that AveXis has several ongoing clinical studies for the treatment of SMA, an inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by a defect in a single gene, the survival motor neuron.

A BLA filing with the FDA for AVXS-101, AveXis' lead gene therapy candidate, is expected in the second half of 2018 and approval and launch in the US is expected in 2019.

Assuming mid 2018 completion, Novartis expects this acquisition to be slightly negative to Core Operating Income in 2018 and 2019, mainly due to R&D investments. As of 2020, Novartis would expect the acquisition impact to strongly contribute to Core Operating Income and Core EPS accretion driven by a significant increase in sales.