Pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS) is purchasing privately held biotechnology firm Excellergy for $2 billion U.S, its second major acquisition in a week.
Excellergy will provide Novartis with allergy treatments that may prove to work faster and better than anything currently on the market.
The deal with Excellergy comes a week after Novartis announced it is acquiring Pikavation Therapeutics for $3 billion U.S. to secure a new breast cancer drug.
Novartis, based in Switzerland, is ramping up its acquisitions as it faces a coming wave of patent expirations on many of its existing medications.
Management at Novartis warned earlier this year that its profits would decline this year as some of its best-selling drugs, including heart medicine Entresto, face generic competition.
The company’s second best-selling medicine Cosentyx is expected to lose its patent protection in 2029.
Novartis is seeing growth in some existing medicines such as cancer drug Kisqali and multiple sclerosis treatment Kesimpta but says it must boost its pipeline to offset future declines.
Excellergy’s main allergy drug remains several years away from reaching commercial sales. Novartis said the acquisition is likely to close in the first half of this year.
NVS stock has risen 34% in the last 12 months to trade at $149.70 U.S. per share.
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