Novartis to licence new Covid-19 treatment
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Monday 10 Jan 2022
(Sharecast News) - Novartis is to licence a new Covid-19 treatment following positive clinical trials, the Swiss drugs firm said on Monday.
Novartis said the antiviral treatment ensovibep - which it is developing with Swiss biopharma Molecular Partners - had met its primary endpoint of viral load reduction over eight days in phase 2 studies. The secondary endpoint of hospitalisation and/or visits to emergency rooms related to Covid-19, or death, showed an overall 78% reduction in risk of events.
The group will therefore pay CHF150m (£120m) to exercise its option to in-license ensovibep from Molecular Partners ahead of ramping up manufacturing plans and seeking expedited regulatory authorisation worldwide, including requesting Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration. Molecular Partners has already received an upfront payment of CHF60m.
As at 1020 GMT, shares in Molecular Partners had surged nearly 33%. Novartis was ahead 1%.
Vas Narasimhan, Novartis chief executive, said ensovibep had the potential to be an "important new treatment option to combat the rapidly evolving SARS-CoV-2 pandemic".
He continued: "As Covid-19 continues to burden healthcare systems across the globe, a range of treatments will be needed."
Patrick Amstutz, chief executive of Molecular Partners, said: "These encouraging results come at a time when the need for therapies with pan-variant activity, such as ensovibep, has never been greater.
"Today's data are a culmination of a persistent team effort between ourselves and Novartis to deliver a tailored antiviral with demonstrated safety and efficacy in global clinical trials."
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN