Novartis nears deal to buy US biotech firm Medicines Co for about $7B
Switzerland's national flag flies in front of the logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, Jan. 30, 2019. (Reuters Photo)


Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG is nearing an agreement to acquire U.S. biotechnology firm The Medicines Co. for about $7 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The deal, in which Novartis has agreed to pay $85 a share, could be announced this weekend, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Going by a fully diluted share count, the agreement is worth about $10 billion, according to the report.

Novartis declined to comment. Medicines Co. did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. The deal could broaden the Swiss drugmaker’s cabinet of heart medicines and shore up growth threatened by patent expirations.

Novartis has been hunting for a $5 billion acquisition in the United States, two banking sources told Reuters earlier this week without identifying a target.

New Jersey-based Medicines Co.’s top drug candidate is cholesterol-lowering drug inclisiran for heart patients. Novartis has historically had a strong cardiovascular drug franchise, but lost ground when Diovan, once a $6 billion-per-year seller, lost patent protection in 2012 and left the company without an immediate, innovative follow-up product.

Novartis has since been building up its portfolio, which now includes Entresto, a $1 billion seller for heart failure, as well as an experimental RNA-targeting molecule from Ionis Pharmaceuticals that it licensed earlier this year for $150 million.