Dive Brief:
- Novartis is making an initial $35 million investment for a 15% stake in Gamida Cell.
- The agreement also contains a buyout option.
- Gamida’s main therapy in development is NiCord, a phase I/II stem-cell treatment for hematologic malignancies.
Dive Insight:
According to Gamida Cell’s website, NiCord is the first product developed using their proprietary platform. The goal of this therapy is to treat patients who are currently being treated with bone marrow transplantation, including patients with sickle cell disease, thalassemia, various blood cancers, and severe autoimmune diseases.
Depending on how NiCord performs in clinical trials, Novartis could end up paying up to $435 million for the entire company. The buyout option expires in the first half of 2016.