Switzerland’s Novartis buying San Diego biotech Avidity in $12 billion cash deal

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced Sunday that it will buy San Diego-based Avidity Biosciences in a $12 billion all-cash deal.

Founded in 2012, Avidity is developing a new class of RNA therapeutics called antibody oligonucleotide conjugates to treat genetic neuromuscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

“Avidity’s pioneering AOC platform for RNA therapeutics ​and its late-stage assets bolster our commitment to delivering innovative, targeted and potentially first-in-class medicines to treat devastating, progressive neuromuscular diseases,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis.

“The Avidity team has built robust programs with industry-leading delivery of RNA therapeutics to muscle tissue. We look forward to developing these programs to meaningfully change the trajectory of diseases for patients,” Narasimhan said.

Avidity stockholders will receive $72 per share in cash at closing, representing a premium of 46% over the stock’s closing price on Friday.

Novartis recently celebrated 25 years of operations in the San Diego region, and earlier this year announced plans to open a $1.1 billion global research hub here.