Novartis to acquire Myricx Bio for up to £1.5bn

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has agreed to acquire the London-based biotechnology firm Myricx Bio in a deal worth up to 1.5 billion pounds. The agreement, announced on July 6, 2026, involves an upfront payment of 1.1 billion pounds, with an additional 400 million pounds contingent on future development milestones.

Myricx Bio is developing a novel platform for antibody-drug conjugates, a targeted class of cancer medicines. The company’s technology focuses on a new type of toxic payload called N-myristoyltransferase inhibitors, or NMTis. This approach is designed to improve effectiveness, reduce side effects, and overcome resistance that can develop with existing ADC treatments. Myricx’s two lead assets target the B7-H3 and HER2 proteins, which are associated with a range of solid tumours.

The acquisition is part of a broader trend of large pharmaceutical companies investing heavily in external innovation, particularly in oncology, to address an estimated 450 billion dollar wave of patent expiries over the next decade. Novartis stated the deal would strengthen its oncology pipeline and broaden its portfolio of precision medicines. Fiona Marshall, president of biomedical...