Novartis to buy Regulus
Novartis is to pay up to $1.7 billion to buy Regulus Therapeutics Inc of San Diego, US, in a deal that will strengthen its portfolio of treatments for kidney disease. The deal also puts a spotlight on microRNA, a drug target that affects gene expression without coding for a protein. Regulus has an early clinical stage product for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a serious genetic disorder that can lead to end-stage renal disease. The product, farabursen, is an oligonucleotide designed to inhibit a microRNA known as miR-17.