JPM26: Novartis strengthens neuroscience portfolio with bolt-on deals

At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026, the Novartis presentation shared the company’s ambitions to win in the neuroscience space through mergers & acquisitions and licensing deals. Novartis stated that their capital allocation priorities remain unchanged, and the company will continue to pursue value-creating bolt-on deals to strengthen its pipeline growth. During the presentation, Novartis highlighted more than ten licensed or acquired new molecular entities over the last two years, with neuroscience being one of the key beneficiary therapy areas. During the conference presentation, Novartis noted that the proposed acquisition of Avidity Biosciences would strengthen its neuroscience pipeline and advance RNA therapeutics strategy. The transaction is expected to close in H1 2026 and would add a muscle-targeted RNA delivery platform and three late-stage antibody oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) RNA neuromuscular programs (del-desiran for myotonic dystrophy type 1, del-brax for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, and del-zota for Duchenne muscular dystrophy). These three late-stage assets have potential for first-to-market status in their respective diseases and will bolster Novartis neuromuscular portfolio. These AOC programs will complement Novartis’ approved spinal muscular atrophy onasemnogene abeparvovec gene therapies, Zolgensma (intravenous infusion) and Itvisma (intrathecal injection), thereby broadening Novartis’ modality mix and disease coverage across inherited neuromuscular disorders. In addition to neuromuscular diseases, the neurodegenerative diseases pipeline will be strengthened with key licensing and collaboration deals. Yesterday (on 12 January, 2025), a global licensing and collaboration agreement with Novartis and SciNeuro was announced for SciNeuro’s amyloid-beta targeted antibody program and to leverage their blood brain barrier shuttle technology to enhance brain delivery of therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Under the terms of the agreement, SciNeuro will receive an upfront payment of $165m. In addition, SciNeuro is eligible to receive research funding, and potentially up to $1.5bn in development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties. Shuttle-enabled technologies is an emerging R&D strategy within AD since the drug delivery strategy holds potential for a more rapid and complete amyloid clearance at lower systemic doses than the currently approved treatments, and with a potentially improved safety profile. But Roche’s Brainshuttle platform with trontinemab edges ahead of the Novartis and SciNeuro program; Roche has initiated a Phase III program with trontinemab in patients with early symptomatic AD (NCT07169578, NCT07170150) and plans to investigate trontinemab in patients with preclinical AD. Novartis’ pursuit of expansion of neurodegenerative disease pipeline assets through external innovation is also shown through its global licensing and collaboration agreement with Arrowhead for ARO-SNCA and Arrowhead’s proprietary targeted RNAi Molecule (TRiM) platform, which was announced in September 2025. ARO-SNCA is a preclinical stage siRNA therapy against alpha-synuclein for the treatment of synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD). But competitive pressure is significant in the PD space, with multiple companies pursing alpha-synuclein lowering strategies. According to GlobalData’s drug database, there are 13 alpha-synuclein inhibitors in clinical development. For Novartis, dusiness development & licensing is a core strategy in strengthening the neuroscience portfolio. By growing its pipeline in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases and advancing technology platforms including targeted drug delivery capabilities of RNA therapeutics and shuttle technologies across the blood-brain barrier, the aggressive business development strategy will continue to strengthen the neuroscience therapy area as a strong pillar of revenue driver for the company. Sign up here to receive daily updates on the latest healthcare industry trends emerging from the JP Morgan Healthcare conference 2026. Sign up here to receive a comprehensive report after the conference. GlobalData Strategic Intelligence Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis. By GlobalData