Swiss multinational pharma, Novartis, has agreed to acquire Myricx Bio, a UK-based biotech company developing a new class of ADCs, using N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) payloads, for up to US$1.5bn including US$1.1bn cash upfront plus potential milestone payments.
“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.”
The acquisition combines Novartis’ strength in oncology with Myricx Bio’s two lead assets and next-generation first-in-class NMTi payload platform.
“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,” said Mohit Rawat, CEO of Myricx Bio. “Together with Novartis, we look forward to building upon our work to transform the landscape of cancer treatment.”
Myricx, a spin out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute, was founded in 2019 by Dr Roberto Solari, venture partner at Brandon Capital, Professor Ed Tate and Dr Andy Bell with support from Cancer Research UK. Industry veteran Dr Robin Carr was recruited to lead drug development and subsequently became CEO.
The exit will generate a significant return for investors that include Abingworth, British Business Bank, Cancer Research Horizons, Eli Lilly, and Novo Holdings. In July 2024, they contributed £90m in a Series A – the largest series A for an academic biotech start-up in the UK and among the largest series A rounds ever raised by a European biotech alongside existing investors Brandon Capital and co-founding seed investor Sofinnova Partners. The financing enabled the company to scale its operations and expand the team to rapidly advance its pipeline.
Rawat joined as CEO in 2025 to steer the company through pre-clinical development and its next stage of growth and, ultimately this deal.
Goodwin was legal advisor to Myricx Bio.
