Swiss pharma giant Novartis NVS has agreed to license a novel capsid generated from Voyager Therapeutics, Inc’s VYGR capsid platform for use in a gene therapy program.

Per Voyager, NVS will use this novel capsid for use in a gene therapy program against an undisclosed rare neurologic disease target.

Shares of Novartis have risen 15.4% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 27%.

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Novartis’ Deal With VYGR

VYGR granted this capsid license to NVS per the terms of their agreement, which was originally announced in March 2022.

As per this agreement, Novartis may exercise options to license novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids generated from Voyager’s RNA-driven TRACER (Tropism Redirection of AAV by Cell-type-specific Expression of RNA) capsid discovery platform for potential use with three undisclosed CNS targets. NVS also has options to access capsids for two additional targets, which will be decided in future.

Voyager will receive an upfront of $15 million from Novartis for this current capsid license. VYGR is also eligible to receive up to $305 million in associated potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered mid- to high-single digit royalties on a potential product incorporating the licensed capsid for this target.

The license agreement between Voyager and Novartis includes five gene therapy programs — Huntington’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and three undisclosed indications.

NVS Focuses on Pharmaceutical Business

With the successful spin-off of the Sandoz business in 2023, Novartis is now a pure-play innovative medicine company with a focus on core therapeutic areas — cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience and oncology.

NVS already has one-time intravenous gene therapy, Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec), in its portfolio. Zolgensma is designed to address the genetic root cause of SMA by replacing the function of the missing or nonworking SMN1 gene.

It is approved in the United States, the EU and other countries to treat babies and young children who have SMA with biallelic mutations in the SMN1 gene.

Novartis AG Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Novartis AG price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Novartis AG Quote

Novartis’ performance in the second quarter was impressive. Sales increased 11%, driven by momentum in Entresto, Kesimpta, Kisqali, Cosentyx, Pluvicto and Leqvio. The rise in operating income guidance indicates strong momentum across all key brands in the upcoming quarters.

The pipeline progress is encouraging as well. The company is now focused on strengthening its core pharmaceutical business with strategic acquisitions and deals. The recent acquisition of MorphoSys should further expand its oncology pipeline.