Novartis acquired Anthos Therapeutics from Blackstone for $3.1 billion

Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, has agreed to pay up to $3.1 billion for Anthos Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company majority-owned by Blackstone’s drug development subsidiary, to strengthen its cardiovascular business.

In 2019, private equity firm Blackstone’s Life Sciences unit and Novartis formed Anthos to develop, manufacture, and commercialize abelacimab, a therapy for strokes and blood clot recurrence.

The sale, which is anticipated to occur in the first half of this year, also brings to an end a high-profile development cooperation between a large pharmaceutical company and a private equity firm, an innovative funding model that the sector has been exploring.

Novartis will pay $925 million up front, with further payments of up to $2.15 billion contingent on development milestones, the companies announced in a statement.

According to a Blackstone representative, the transaction was the largest sale to date of a majority-owned Blackstone Life Sciences subsidiary.