Novo’s $1.1bn pro Forma deal

Novo Nordisk has been expanding furiously from its diabetes and obesity heartland via recent deals. Today it made another move to diversify with the acquisition of Forma Therapeutics, spending $1.1bn to gain a late-stage sickle cell project and some earlier oncology assets. This will put Novo in direct competition with Pfizer, which will become the market leader in sickle cell when its acquisition of Global Blood Therapeutics closes. Interestingly Novo has, like Pfizer, given sickle cell gene therapies a swerve: Forma’s lead project, etavopivat, is an oral selective pyruvate kinase R activator. Etavopivat is in a phase 2/3 study, but data are unlikely to emerge for a few years; Global Blood’s inclacumab is in two phase 3 studies that could report sooner, and that group also has Oxbryta, forecast to lead the market in 2028 with sales of more than $1.6bn. Whether today's deal represents a success for Forma’s investors is another question: it was struck at $20 per share, precisely where Forma listed just over two years ago. In the meantime the stock had peaked at nearly $50, but after a brutal year shareholders look relieved just to get their money back.