GSK to buy US cancer treatment firm Nuvalent for $10.6bn

UK drugmaker’s new chief executive, Luke Miels, makes mark with deal for Boston-based biotech Nuvalent

GSK’s new boss, Luke Miels, has struck one of the British drugmaker’s biggest deals, announcing the $10.6bn (£7.9bn) acquisition of a US cancer specialist with two late-stage medications.

The FTSE 100 company is increasing its oncology portfolio by agreeing to buy Nuvalent, a Boston-based biotech company that develops cancer drugs, including three for lung cancer. GSK will pay $124 a share in cash.

Nuvalent was founded in 2017 by Matthew Shair, a Harvard professor specialising in chemistry and chemical biology, and floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2021.

He has a 2.16% stake in the business, according to LSEG data, indicating he is in line for just under $200m from the biotech company’s sale. Nuvalent’s biggest shareholder is Deerfield Management, a New York-based healthcare investment company.

The deal includes two late-stage next-generation treatments for non-small cell lung cancer which are being reviewed by the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, with decisions expected in September and November.

The drugs, zidesamtinib and neladalkib, are expected to launch later this year, assuming they are approved, and could be multi-blockbusters with annual revenues of several billion dollars each.

Both aim for longer effective treatment with better quality of life with improved tolerability, targeting mutations that drive lung cancer. Those mutations affect non-smoking adults aged 40 to 50, mostly female; just under 4,000 people in the US.

GSK said the Nuvalent takeover was its biggest ever acquisition and the largest transaction it had been involved in since an asset swap announced with Novartis in 2014 that was valued at about $21bn. GSK took over the Swiss company’s vaccines division for $5.25bn and sold its cancer portfolio to Novartis for $16bn under its then chief executive, Andrew Witty.

It is the latest in a string of deals announced by Miels since he took over from Emma Walmsley as chief executive at the start of the year.

In January, GSK acquired the California biotech company RAPT, which is developing a drug to protect against severe food allergies, including allergies to nuts, milk and eggs, for $2.2bn.

Miels, who was previously GSK’s chief commercial officer, is continuing the push into oncology that was begun by Walmsley from 2017, but has surprised investors with the size of the latest deal, after smaller bolt-on acquisitions in recent years.

He said GSK was following a “brick-by-brick approach” to increase its port