Roche Holding Acquires Telavant for $7.1B, Eyes US and Japan for New IBD Drug

Roche Holding AG agreed to buy Telavant Holdings for $7.1 billion. The Swiss healthcare firm that operates pharmaceuticals and diagnostics businesses worldwide announced on Monday, Oct. 23, that it will acquire the developer of a new treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases that Roivant Sciences and Pfizer Inc. own with a minority stake.

According to Reuters, Roche Holding will have the right to develop, produce, and commercially market Roivant Sciences and Pfizer's experimental antibody called the RVT-3101 under the terms. Roche is aiming to release this drug in the United States and Japan.

RVT-3101 in Phase 3 Trial

Roche reportedly said the RVT-3101 is a "promising" new therapy currently being developed to help patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. This bowel disease is part of a chronic gastrointestinal disorder group that affects about eight million people worldwide.

It was added that 80% of the patients are not experiencing lasting remission. Roche believes that the new RVT-3101 or TL1A antibody has a big potential to help treat other diseases. The pharma company said the drug is already close to phase 3 of the trial.

"Promising" New Treatment

"We strongly believe this novel TL1A directed antibody has the transformational potential to make a significant difference for patients living with inflammatory bowel disease and potentially other diseases," Roche Group's chief executive officer, Thomas Schinecker, said in a press release. "We are excited to add this promising new therapy in development to our portfolio and to make it available to patients as quickly as possible."

Roche's chief medical officer, who also serves as the company's head of global product development, further said, "The recent Phase 2b for RVT-3101 delivered the first long-term, robust dataset demonstrating improved clinical remission in the maintenance treatment phase and with this promising data, we believe that RVT-3101 has the potential to be the first therapy that offers both high efficacy and safety for people with inflammatory bowel disease and the convenience of an at-home, subcutaneous administration."

Photo by: Roche Media Library