Sofinnova Partners Announces Myricx Bio Agrees to Be Acquired by Novartis

Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, today announced that its portfolio company Myricx Bio (“Myricx”) has reached agreement to be acquired by Novartis, for up to $1.5 billion including $1.1 billion cash upfront plus potential milestone payments. This marks Sofinnova Partners' seventh exit in three years.

Myricx Bio is a UK-headquartered transatlantic biotech company focused on the discovery and development of a novel class of payloads for antibody-drug conjugates. The company's platform is built around next-generation N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) payloads, a differentiated mechanism of action designed to address the narrow therapeutic windows and tolerability challenges that have limited earlier generations of ADCs, such as TOPO-1 and tubulin inhibitor payload classes. Myricx Bio's two lead ADC assets, directed towards the established targets B7-H3 and HER2, are designed to bring this differentiated approach to patients across a broad range of solid tumor types, an area of significant unmet medical need. Spun out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute, with the support of Cancer Research UK, the company was founded by Professor Ed Tate, Roberto Solari, and Andrew Bell, with seed investment from Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital in 2019. Sofinnova has remained a committed investor throughout the company's evolution, from seed through to this acquisition.

The acquisition advances ADC innovation by bringing together the strengths of Novartis in oncology with Myricx Bio’s two lead ADC assets and next-generation first-in-class NMTi payload platform, having potential impact across multiple solid tumor settings. By pairing Novartis' global oncology development and commercial capabilities with Myricx Bio's differentiated payload technology, the combination is intended to accelerate the delivery of more effective and better-tolerated therapies to patients with limited treatment options today.

"Myricx Bio is a powerful example of what European life sciences can produce when you combine world-class academic science with the right venture support from the very beginning. This acquisition by Novartis is not only a validation of Myricx Bio's platform but a demonstration of what is possible when Europe backs its own innovation with conviction. That is precisely what Sofinnova exists to do,” noted Antoine Papiernik, Chairman and Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners.

Sofinnova helped shape the strategic direction of the company at a pivotal moment, supporting the team's decision to pivot from small molecule development to an ADC payload platform — a move that proved transformative in establishing the NMTi platform's broad applicability across tumor types. The company went on to raise a £90m ($114m) Series A, in mid-2024, led by Novo Holdings and Abingworth and joined by British Business Bank, Cancer Research Horizons, Eli Lilly, alongside Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners, expanding its investor base and scaling its operations, under the leadership of its current CTO, Robin Carr, PhD. Mohit Rawat joined as CEO in 2025 to steer the company through pre-clinical development and its next stage of growth, leading to this groundbreaking deal.

"I first met Roberto and Ed at Imperial, long before any of this existed. The team at Myricx Bio has executed with exceptional discipline and ambition ever since, evolving the company from a seed hypothesis to a Novartis acquisition, and supporting them along that journey has been one of the great privileges of my career. This is the outcome our model is built to deliver: identifying exceptional science and people early and supporting them at every stage,” highlighted Maina Bhaman, Partner at Sofinnova Partners.

Mohit Rawat, CEO of Myricx Bio, said, “This acquisition is a tremendous endorsement of the leadership of our NMTi-ADC platform, and the insights, innovation and achievements of our founders and team towards our mission of providing more effective and better tolerated therapeutic options for cancer patients. Together with Novartis, we look forward to building upon our work to transform the landscape of cancer treatment.”

This acquisition underscores the depth of the European life sciences ecosystem and the long-term value created when world-class science is paired with committed, early-stage capital. It also reflects the growing clinical and commercial importance of differentiated ADC technology in addressing the needs of cancer patients who have not been well served by existing treatments. The transaction is expected to close in H2 2026, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

About Myricx Bio - www.myricxbio.com

Myricx Bio (“Myricx”) is a private biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for the treatment of patients with cancer. It has pioneered the development of a completely novel class of payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), based on inhibition of N-myristoyltransferase (NMT).

A spin out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute, Myricx is headquartered in London with teams based in the UK and USA. Investors include Abingworth, Brandon Capital Partners, British Business Bank, Cancer Research Horizons, Eli Lilly, Novo Holdings and Sofinnova Partners. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners has over 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners manages over €4 billion in assets. For more information, please visit: sofinnovapartners.com.

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