Novartis buys a cancer drug developer for more than a billion dollars

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced that it would buy the British drug developer Myricx Bion.

Myricx is a privately held, UK-based biotechnology company developing new medicines for cancer,

The planned acquisition would strengthen Novartis’ oncology product development pipeline and promote the next generation of targeted drug conjugates that use new types of payload mechanisms. According to a Novartis press release, Myricx’s approach is designed to deliver a differentiated, cancer-destroying payload directly to tumor cells. Myricx is developing two leading drug candidates.

Under the terms of the deal, Novartis will pay US$1.1 billion in upfront payments and up to US$400 million in potential milestone payments. The deal is expected to close in the latter half of 2026, subject to the fulfillment or waiver of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.