ZURICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Roche announced on Monday the acquisition of Telavant, a joint venture between Roivant Holdings and Pfizer, which is developing a new treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases.
The transaction, discussed for a long time and valued at an initial amount of 7.1 billion dollars (6.71 billion euros), constitutes the first major acquisition of the new head of Roche, Thomas Schinecker, who took office in March.
The agreement is part of the Swiss laboratory’s desire to diversify from its aging cancer treatment business.
With this acquisition, Roche will obtain the right to develop, manufacture and market in the United States and Japan an investigational drug known as RVT-3101. It should be used against inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Inflammatory bowel diseases are a group of chronic gastrointestinal disorders that affect nearly 8 million people worldwide and 80% of whom do not experience lasting remission, Roche said.
The company said the drug, which is about to begin a phase 3 trial, also has the potential to be used to treat many other diseases.
It belongs to a class of new treatments known as anti-TL1A antibodies, which has attracted major deals in the pharmaceutical industry.
Earlier this month, Sanofi purchased the rights to an anti-TL1A antibody from Teva for $500 million upfront and up to $1 billion in milestone payments, depending on the achievement of development goals. and marketing.
Merck & Co said in April it was buying Prometheus Biosciences, developer of anti-TL1A antibodies, for $10.8 billion.
(Reporting John Revill in Zurich and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; French version Gaëlle Sheehan, editing by Kate Entringer)
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