Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has announced its acquisition of kidney player Chinook Therapeutics for $3.5 billion, in a bid to expand its renal drug portfolio. The deal includes an upfront cash payment of $3.2 billion and up to $300 million in contingent value rights, payable once certain regulatory milestones are achieved. The acquisition will give Novartis access to Chinook's two late-stage assets in development for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a rare autoimmune and progressive kidney disease. This includes the most mature IgAN asset, atrasentan, which is currently running Phase III trials, and zigakibart, which is set to begin late-stage trials later this year.
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said that the acquisition provides the company with a "unique opportunity" to arrive at a solution to "one of society’s most challenging healthcare issues" and provide novel and innovative treatment options to patients. Chinook's most mature IgAN asset is atrasentan, while zigakibart has disease-modifying potential in this indication by depleting a pathogenic variant of IgA. Both drugs will join Novartis' own iptacopan, an investigational factor B inhibitor in Phase III