Novartis in advanced talks to buy Cytokinetics

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Written on Jan 8, 2024

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Financial details of a potential Novartis-Cytokinetics deal remain unknown.
Needham analyst recently raised his price objective on $CYTK to $108.
Cytokinetics stock has roughly tripled over the past two to three weeks.

Cytokinetics Inc (NASDAQ: CYTK) popped another 15% on Monday following a report that Novartis AG (SWX: NOVN) is now in advanced talks to acquire the biopharmaceutical firm.

Financial details of the potential deal are yet to be known

Anonymous sources told the Wall Street Journal today that Cytokinetics may reach an agreement with the pharmaceutical behemoth as soon as this week.

Financial details of such a deal, however, remain to be disclosed. The news arrives only weeks after Invezz reported Novartis as well as the U.K based AstraZeneca to be interested in buying the late-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Note that Cytokinetics saw its revenue tank to $0.4 million only in the third quarter of 2023 versus $2.5 million a year ago.

Its shares have still close to tripled over the past two to three weeks.

Cytokinetics recently reported positive data for aficamten

Possibility of a competing proposal or the current negotiations eventually breaking down remains on the table, as per people familiar with the matter.

In December, Cytokinetics Inc reported positive data for aficamten – its drug candidate for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which made it even more attractive as an acquisition.

Needham raised his price objective on the Nasdaq-listed firm last week to $108 to reflect “de-risking of afi programme and its enhanced commercial potential”.

Analysts at the firm now expect peak sales of about $2.6 billion for aficamten that they say has been “established as the new standard of care for HCM”. Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on $CYTK.