Novartis has announced an agreement to acquire the UK-headquartered biotech Myricx Bio in a transaction valued at up to $1.5bn, including a $1.1bn upfront payment and potential milestone payments.
Myricx Bio is a privately held biotech developing a novel class of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that use N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) payloads.
The pair said the purchase will advance ADC innovation by bringing together Novartis's oncology strengths with Myricx Bio's two lead ADC assets and its first-in-class NMTi payload platform, with potential impact across multiple solid tumour settings.
Myricx Bio has already advanced a pre-clinical pipeline of proprietary NMTi-ADCs, with lead assets directed towards established targets B7-H3 and HER2 — which puts it in competition with multiple other ADCs, including approved assets Enhertu (from AstraZeneca) and ifinatamab deruxtecan (from Daiichi and Merck).
"We are delighted that Novartis recognises the transformative promise of our NMTi-ADC platform to deliver this next-generation of potential first-in-class, highly differentiated ADC therapeutics," said Mohit Rawat, CEO of Myricx Bio.
There is a widely recognised and critical unmet need for new ADC payloads that can improve the standard of care over current payloads, overcome payload resistance, improve tolerability and offer a wider therapeutic index.
"ADCs have become an important part of cancer treatment, but there remains a clear need for new payload mechanisms to overcome resistance and expand their impact for patients," said Fiona Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis.
"Myricx Bio has developed a promising NMTi payload platform with a differentiated mechanism that could broaden the use of ADCs across multiple tumour settings."
This proposed acquisition reflects our strategy to scale innovative platforms, as we have with radioligand therapies, to deliver more durable, transformative treatments for patients.
The transaction is expected to close in H2 2026.
