Novo Nordisk (NVO) to Buy Cardior to Boost Heart Disease Pipeline
Novo Nordisk NVO announced that it would acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals for up to €1.025 billion in an effort to strengthen its pipeline in cardiovascular disease.
The purchase price includes an upfront payment and additional milestone payments if certain development and commercial milestones are achieved. The acquisition will close in the second quarter of 2024.
Cardior develops therapies that target RNA to prevent, repair and reverse diseases of the heart. The agreement includes Cardior’s lead compound CDR132L, which is in mid-stage development for the treatment of heart failure.
CDR132L is designed to halt and partially reverse cellular pathology by selectively blocking the abnormal levels of the microRNA molecule miR-132, potentially leading to long-lasting improvement in heart function.
The candidate was reported to be safe and well tolerated, and the results suggested cardiac functional improvements in people with heart failure compared to placebo, per results from the phase Ib trial published in the European Heart Journal.
A phase II study HF-REVERT is ongoing in 280 people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who previously suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction). The first patient was dosed in the HF-REVERT trial in July 2022.
NVO plans to initiate a second phase II trial to evaluate CDR132L in a chronic heart failure population with cardiac hypertrophy, wherein the walls of the heart muscle become thick and stiff, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood.
The acquisition will be funded using financial reserves and will not impact the operating profit guidance for 2024 or the ongoing share buyback program.
The acquisition will diversify NVO’s portfolio beyond diabetes treatments and obesity drugs.
Shares of Novo Nordisk have surged 66.8% in the past year compared with the industry’s 27.3% growth. The surge is mostly attributable to the stupendous performance of NVO’s obesity drug Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg) and Ozempic.
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In 2023, Wegovy generated sales worth DKK 31.3 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 407% on a reported basis and 420% at a constant exchange rate.
Earlier in the month, the FDA approved NVO’s supplemental new drug application seeking label expansion for Wegovy to reduce the risks of major adverse cardiovascular events, including cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or stroke in adults with either overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease.
Of late, mergers & acquisition deals have intensified in the pharma/biotech space as pharma and biotech bigwigs look to diversify their portfolios in the wake of generic competition for key drugs.
AstraZeneca AZN recently announced that it would acquire the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Fusion Pharmaceuticals FUSN for a total consideration of $2.4 billion.
The Fuison acquisition will add next-generation radioconjugates, a promising modality in cancer treatment, to AZN’s oncology pipeline. Fusion’s key clinical-stage pipeline candidate is FPI-2265, a potential new treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, which is in phase II studies.
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Novo Nordisk currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A better-ranked stock in the healthcare sector is ADMA Biologics, Inc. ADMA which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 60 days, estimates for ADMA Biologics’ 2024 earnings per share have improved from 22 to 30 cents. In the past year, shares of ADMA have rallied 92.4%.
ADMA Biologics’ earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and met once, delivering an average surprise of 85.00%.
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