Latest deal marks the fifth Forbion portfolio company to be acquired for over $1 bn within a year
Naarden, The Netherlands, 2 May 2024 - Forbion portfolio company Mariana Oncology (Mariana) is to be acquired by Novartis for $1 billion in cash up front and up to $750 million in potential milestone payments. The acquisition brings together Mariana Oncology’s innovative radiopharmaceutical pipeline and platform with the proven clinical development and commercialization expertise of Novartis. Novartis’ announcement with further details of the acquisition can be found here.
This follows an oversubscribed $175 million Series B financing in Mariana Oncology in September 2023 co-led by Forbion and Deep Track Capital, alongside founding investors Atlas Venture, Access Biotechnology, RA Capital Management and new investors Nextech Invest, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) and Eli Lilly and Company.
Forbion congratulates Mariana Oncology with this great deal that showcases the excitement of its pipeline. In our view, Novartis is very well positioned to propel Mariana's pioneering therapies to great heights, instilling optimism regarding the transformative impact this partnership could bring to cancer patients' lives.
Geert-Jan Mulder
Forbion Managing Partner, and Mariana board member
This acquisition is the fifth worth over $1 billion for a Forbion portfolio company in a year’s time; in January of 2024, Aiolos Bio, Inc. was acquired by GSK for up to $1.4 billion; in August 2023, Novo Nordisk agreed to acquire Inversago Pharma for up to $1.075 billion; in July 2023, Eli Lilly agreed to acquire Versanis Bio for up to $1.925 billion, and in May of 2023, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals agreed to acquire VectivBio for a consideration of approximately $1.2 billion.
