Angelini Pharma to Acquire Arvelle Therapeutics for $960 Million

Italy’s Angelini Pharma has announced plans to purchase Swiss drugmaker Arvelle Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $960 million, gaining access to the epileptic seizure drug cenobamate that it plans to market in Europe.

Under terms of the agreement, Angelini will pay $610 million when it gets regulatory clearance for the deal and will pay an additional $350 million when the acquired drug achieves certain sales milestones.

The company says it expects to receive European Medicines Agency authorization for the drug sometime this year.

In the U.S., cenobamate was approved by the FDA in 2019 as an anti-seizure medication for adults suffering from partial-onset seizures, and it has been available by prescription since mid-2020 under the brand name Xcopri, which is sold by South Korea-based SK Biopharmaceuticals.