A pharmaceutical company founded by Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is reportedly in talks to sell an experimental drug in a deal that could be valued at more than $7 billion.
Roivant Sciences, which Ramaswamy started in 2014, has worked to commercialize drugs held up in development by acquiring them and creating subsidiaries to develop them, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In February, the same day he publicly announced his White House bid, Ramaswamy revealed he was stepping down from Roivant’s board to focus on his 2024 presidential campaign.
Months before, in November, Roivant secured the rights to an in-trial medication that can treat debilitating stomach diseases like Chron’s and ulcerative colitis.
Switzerland-based Roche — the fifth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world — is reportedly ready to dish out billions to secure those rights, people familiar with the matter told The Journal.
If the deal isn’t hijacked by another potential buyer, a Roivant-Roche deal could be sealed in the coming days, The Journal reported.
Roivant acquired its stomach disease treatment from a deal with Pfizer late last year.
Roivant formed a new subsidiary, called Telavant, to fund the development of the drug, which goes by RVT-3101, according to The Journal.
RVT-3101 is in Phase 3 — the final phase — of testing, and has reported positive results up until this point.
In a statement released in January, Roivant reported that 32% of patients involved in RVT-3101’s trial achieved clinical remission.
“Across all doses and patient groups, RVT-3101 was well tolerated and showed a favorable safety profile,” it added.
Pfizer still has a 25% stake in Televant, and has commercial rights outside the US and Japan. It was unclear what would happen to Pfizer’s part-ownership should the deal close.
RVT-3101 contains an anti-TL1A antibody, which has previously been used to treat intestinal inflammation and has since become a highly-coveted asset in the race to cure bowel diseases.
Last month, Merck & Co. agreed to pay $10.8 billion to buy Prometheus Biosciences for a rival therapy that also treats ulcerative colitis, The Journal reported.
The deal came just months after Roivant secured the rights to the drug in November.
Merck reportedly beat out competitors AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb from scooping up Prometheus.
In December, Amgen agreed to buy Horizon Therapeutics in another multibillion-dollar bet on curing autoimmune diseases.
It was the largest healthcare merger of 2022, with Amgen splashing out $27.8 billion to acquire the Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company, according to The Journal.
Should Roivant become the next pharma brand to strike a deal, it would be among the biggest moves by Roche boss Thomas Schinecker since he took the helm of the Swiss life-sciences giant in March, the outlet reported.
The Post has reached out to Roche for comment.
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