Novartis (NYSE: NVS), the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, has announced the acquisition of IFM Due, a subsidiary of US biopharmaceutical company IFM Therapeutics, for an upfront payment of $90 million, with potential milestone payments totaling up to $745 million. This acquisition builds on a 2019 agreement in which Novartis financed IFM Due’s cGAS-STING program in exchange for the option to purchase the subsidiary.
With this acquisition, Novartis expands its portfolio to include a range of STING-inhibiting small-molecule candidates aimed at treating inflammation-driven diseases linked to excessive pro-inflammatory cytokine signaling. The cGAS-STING pathway is crucial for the innate immune system, detecting cellular threats through cytosolic DNA and triggering a STING-dependent inflammatory response, which can be improperly activated due to genetic mutations or mitochondrial dysfunction.- Flcube.com
