Siemens Healthineers submits binding offer for Novartis’s molecular imaging business
27 Aug 2024
Siemens Healthineers AG is reported to have submitted a binding offer for acquiring the molecular imaging business of Swiss drugmaker Novartis.
The German health technology company has offered to pay more than 200 million euros ($224 million) for the Fluorine-18 positron emission tomography, or PET scans, according to a Financial Times report.
Fluorine-18 is a radioactive substance that is being investigated through PET imaging to diagnose cancer and the response of some cancers to treatment.
Neither Novartis, nor Siemens Healthiness confirmed the offer.
Siemens Healthiness and Novartis have an existing partnership in radioligand therapy which is currently owned by Novartis.
As per a master collaboration agreement announced by Siemens Healthiness, Novartis Pharma AG will design, develop, and commercialise diagnostic tests for therapeutic products across Novartis’ therapeutic pipeline.
The programmed, started in September 2020, had an initial focus on development of serum neurofilament light chain (sNFL) immunoassay for people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other neurological diseases.
NFL is a highly specific biomarker for nerve cell injury measured in cerebral spinal fluid and blood. Blood NFL levels have been reported to change in serious neurological conditions, like MS, which is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.
This partnership will continue, Novartis is reported to have stated without confirming the deal.
