# data[].attributes.body
February news

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Infosys To Acquire US-based Salesforce Partner Simplus | Power Breakfast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As Infosys looks to ramp up its Salesforce ecosystem, the Indian information technology giant is set to acquire US-based digital services and consulting firm Simplus in a deal pegged at around $250 million. "This acquisition follows up on Infy 's acquisition of Fluido in Sep 2018, further adding to Infosys's inorganic push toward enhancing capabilities in the Salesforce ecosystem," brokerage firm Emkay said on Tuesday. Another brokerage Motilal Oswal also said that the Simplus acquisition will strengthen Salesforce capabilities of Infosys. Simplus has tripled its revenues during FY18 to FY20 and is growing at a rapid rate, the Emkay report added. Its revenues stood at $67.1 million at the end of January 2020.

Infosys expects to complete the acquisition process by the end of Q4 of the current fiscal year 2019-20. "This acquisition is key to staying relevant to the digital priorities of our clients and demonstrates our commitment to the Salesforce ecosystem," Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said in a statement on Monday. Moreover, Simplus will also provide salesforce expertise, industry knowledge, solution assets, to Infosys. Simplus' clientele includes various industries such as financial services, retail, healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing. Simplus currently has a global footprint in North America, Sydney, Melbourne and London.

Of $250 million for the proposed deal, Infosys will give $200 million as upfront cash payment while the rest of the amount will be settled as retention payments and employee incentives, based on certain performance measures. Infosys will get an additional 500 employees after the acquisition. "The acquisition may be revenue-accretive by about 50 bps for Infosys in FY21E," Emkay said.

Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has shortlisted eight companies, including Infosys for a "data analytics project". The regulator aims to track possible market manipulations such as insider trading and front running via this move. The regulator had invited expression of interest (EoI) from "reputed and reliable solution providers for implementation of data analytics project and building of data models at Sebi," in November last year.
Also Read: Sebi bets big on tech; shortlists IBM India, Infosys, Wipro, others for data analytics project
Get live Stock Prices from BSE, NSE, US Market and latest NAV, portfolio of Mutual Funds, calculate your tax by Income Tax Calculator, know market's Top Gainers, Top Losers & Best Equity Funds. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Financial Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest Biz news and updates.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Infosys is acquiring this small US firm; here's what Indian tech giant will get for $250 million

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As Infosys looks to ramp up its Salesforce ecosystem, the Indian information technology giant is set to acquire US-based digital services and consulting firm Simplus in a deal pegged at around $250 million. "This acquisition follows up on Infy 's acquisition of Fluido in Sep 2018, further adding to Infosys's inorganic push toward enhancing capabilities in the Salesforce ecosystem," brokerage firm Emkay said on Tuesday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Infosys Ltd. said that it will acquire Simplus, a leading Salesforce consulting and advisory firm in the U.S. and Australia, in an up to $250 million deal.

The deal size is "$200 million including contingent consideration to be paid for the acquisition of shares subject to closing adjustments", according to the Bengaluru-based company's exchange filing.

In addition, there are employee incentives and retention payments amounting up to $50 million on meeting certain performance conditions over three years, it added.

Simplus is majority-owned by the institutional investors, founders and key employees, with Salesforce Ventures having a minority stake. Its revenue stood at $67.1 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31.

This acquisition, coupled with the acquisition of Fluido announced in September 2018, further elevates Infosys' position as an end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud solutions and services provider, offering clients unparalleled capabilities for cloud-first digital transformation.

Infosys Statement

The acquisition will bring to Infosys the globally recognised Salesforce expertise, industry knowledge, solution assets, deep ecosystem relationships and a broad clientele across industries including high-tech, financial services, retail, healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing, it added.

The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of the current financial year, subject to customary closing conditions.

This acquisition is key to staying relevant to the digital priorities of our clients and demonstrates our commitment to the Salesforce ecosystem.

Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys

Simplus has offices across North America, Sydney, Melbourne, London, and a large delivery centre in Manila.

"We have viewed this partnership from a culture-first lens from the beginning, and we believe that the alignment of our company values, and the preservation of our company DNA will allow us to accelerate growth," Ryan Westwood, CEO and co-founder of Simplus, said.

According to Prabhudas Lilladher, while the acquisition is not very large, it may have some impact on Infosys numbers. The acquisition is valued at 3.7x enterprise value-to-sales FY20, a bit on the higher side, the brokerage said in a note to clients. "Simplus has a revenue base of $67 million in FY20, growing at ~60 percent year-on-year. Assuming 45 percent year-on-year growth in FY21E, this acquisition accounts to 0.7 percent of Infosys' revenues."

The acquisition, according to Emkay Global Financial Services, may be revenue-accretive by ~50 basis points for Infosys in FY21E.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Infosys To Acquire Simplus In $250 Million Deal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Infosys Ltd. said that it will acquire Simplus, a leading Salesforce consulting and advisory firm in the U.S. and Australia, in an up to $250 million deal. The deal size is "$200 million including contingent consideration to be paid for the acquisition of shares subject to closing adjustments", according to the Bengaluru-based company's exchange filing.

# data[].attributes.body
November News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Novartis acquires The Medicines Company for $9.7 billion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's official: After days of rumors, Novartis over the weekend said it had agreed to a $9.7 billion (€8.8 billion) deal to buy The Medicines Company in order to get its hands on next-gen heart drug inclisiran. The takeover represents a big bet that the near-approval cholesterol drug will perform better than rival medicines sold by Amgen and Regeneron and Sanofi-a bet not everyone thinks will pay off.

Medicines Company has brought inclisiran smoothly through phase 3 readouts this year, generating data to show the siRNA safely lowers LDL cholesterol by comparable amounts to Amgen's Repatha and Sanofi and Regeneron's Praluent. The data had sent Medicines Company's stock up around 200% in 2019 even before rumors of a buyout hit full swing last week.

Now, Novartis is set to send Medicines Company's stock higher still. The Swiss Big Pharma has struck a deal to buy Medicines Company for $85 a share, a figure that represents a 24% premium over the biotech's closing price on Friday.

In return for the outlay, Novartis will gain control of a drug that is being prepared for submission for U.S. approval by the end of the year. A filing in the EU is set to follow in the first quarter.

Novartis sees the addition of a near-approval cardiovascular disease drug as a good fit for its efforts to use M&A to deepen its pipeline in key therapeutic areas. If inclisiran wins approval, Novartis will leverage the cardiovascular disease sales infrastructure that turned Entresto into a blockbuster to try to make a better fist of launching the product than Amgen, Regeneron and Sanofi did with their rival anti-PCSK9 antibodies.

The travails of Repatha and Praluent may moderate expectations for inclisiran, but the details of the Medicines Company takeover means Novartis needs the drug to perform if it is to generate a useful return on the acquisition. Medicines Company is set to split profits from inclisiran with Alnylam, the inventor of the drug, increasing the volumes Novartis will need to shift to make the takeover pay.

Novartis will enter the fight to win and expand the market currently fought over by Repatha and Praluent armed with data linking inclisiran to placebo-adjusted drops in LDL-C in excess of 50%. As importantly, the drug appears to be free of the toxicity that has affected some similar therapies.

However, the data generated on the effect of inclisiran on cardiovascular outcomes are mixed, with the encouraging results from one study being offset by the lack of a positive signal in another. The results in both trials came from exploratory endpoints. Novartis will need to wait a long time, until 2023, to get results from a cardiovascular outcomes study.

Until then, more convenient dosing looks likely to be the main differentiator between inclisiran and Repatha and Praluent, neither of which has hit the commercial highs Novartis will want to get out of its drug.

Analysts at Jefferies were still cautious, saying in a note to clients that it stands by its call that, fundamentally, "the PCSK9i market faces significant headwinds and that a twice-yearly administered product will not fix these fundamental [i.e. compliance and sales] issues," but commended MedCo for its "tremendous negotiation," as the price of $85 a share "is more than most would have expected."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Novartis strikes $9.7B takeover of The Medicines Company

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Novartis has agreed to a $9.7 billion (€8.8 billion) deal to buy The Medicines Company for inclisiran. The takeover represents a big bet that the near-approval cholesterol drug will perform better commercially than rival medicines sold by Amgen and Regeneron and Sanofi.

# data[].attributes.body
On 13th March 2020, the IT service giant of India Infosys based in Bengaluru, India closed a strategic deal of $250M  by completely acquiring Simplus a platinum salesforce partnered company based in Salt Lake, Utah. This acquisition can be termed as vertical acquisition since the target company provides support to the acquirer company through software support or services.

# data[].attributes.headline
Deal Intricacies and Stock Price Movement

# data[].attributes.subject
Deal Intricacies and Stock Price Movement

# data[].attributes.body
Since, the acquisition is not very large. The acquisition was valued at 3.7x enterprise value-to-sales FY20, a bit on the. Simplus has a revenue base of $67M in FY20, growing at ~60 percent year-on-year. Assuming 45 percent year-on-year growth in FY21E, this acquisition accounts to 0.7 percent of Infosys. Although the acquisition is strategically for the enhancement of their salesforce operations but along with that the acquisition also helped in expanding their reach to other geographical locations which indirectly benefit the company which can be seen as the increment in the stock price just after the announcement of the deal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
INFY.NS Interactive Stock Chart | Infosys Limited Stock - Yahoo Finance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Yahoo Finance, you get free stock quotes, up-to-date news, portfolio management resources, international market data, social interaction and mortgage rates that help you manage your financial life.

# data[].attributes.body
After analysing the deal, it represents the neo-classical approach of the acquirer as Infosys’s is making inorganic push toward enhancing capabilities in the Sales force ecosystem. This acquisition was for the reconfiguration of resources aiming to improve the efficiency in response to the economic and technological innovations as "Simplus brings to Infosys globally recognized Salesforce expertise, industry knowledge, solution assets, deep ecosystem relationships and a broad clientele, across a variety of industries including high-tech, financial services, retail, healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing". It has offices across North America, Sydney, Melbourne, London, and a large delivery centre in Manila, which provide reach to other regions as well.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce Platinum Partners in the USA and Australia. Simplus is a recognized leader and advisor in cloud consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce CPQ and Billing applications.

This acquisition, coupled with the acquisition of Fluido announced in September 2018, further elevates Infosys' position as an end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud solutions and services provider, offering clients unparalleled capabilities for cloud-first digital transformation.

Simplus brings to Infosys globally recognized Salesforce expertise, industry knowledge, solution assets, deep ecosystem relationships and a broad clientele, across a variety of industries including high-tech, financial services, retail, healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing. It has offices across North America, Sydney, Melbourne, London, and a large delivery center in Manila.

Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, "The acquisition reaffirms our continuous endeavor to strengthen our strategy of scaling our Agile Digital and cloud-first digital transformation capabilities. This acquisition is key to staying relevant to the digital priorities of our clients and demonstrates our commitment to the Salesforce ecosystem. The strategic combination of scalable and agile global delivery capabilities of Simplus complements our effort to help global enterprises to transform their businesses. We are excited to welcome Simplus and its leadership team into the Infosys family."

Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys, added, "Simplus will be a valuable addition to the Infosys family. Complementing our industry knowledge and existing Salesforce footprint with their strong presence in key markets, deep Salesforce consulting and advisory expertise will help accelerate the transformation journey of incumbent companies. With this strong addition to our portfolio, we look forward to unlocking additional value for our clients."

Ryan Westwood, CEO & Co-Founder, Simplus said, "We are thrilled to be partnering with the Infosys team. We have viewed this partnership from a culture-first lens from the beginning, and we believe that the alignment of our company values, and the preservation of our company DNA will allow us to accelerate growth and together become the strongest and most respected partner in the Salesforce ecosystem."

Isaac Westwood, COO & Co-Founder, Simplus, added, "Infosys has incredible global scale and breadth, and joining forces gives us a powerful value proposition to enable global digital transformations."

The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

Salesforce and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc.

About Simplus

Simplus provides enterprise-wide digital transformation across the entire Salesforce ecosystem through advisory, implementation, change management, and managed services. As a Platinum Salesforce Partner, we use leading cloud solutions to help companies achieve a strategic vision, improve performance and increase value to stakeholders. With more than 4500 projects and a customer satisfaction rating in the top 1 percent of all Salesforce partners, Simplus helps companies improve, innovate and grow. For more information about Simplus, please visit www.simplus.com

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements mentioned in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

Media contacts:

For further information, please contact: PR_Global@infosys.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Infosys to Acquire Simplus, a Leading Salesforce Consulting and Platinum Partner

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce Platinum Partners in the USA and Australia. Simplus is a recognized leader and advisor in cloud consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce CPQ and Billing applications.

# data[].attributes.body
Recently in January 2020 Novartis a Swiss multinational Pharmaceutical company completely acquired The Medicine Company a  biopharmaceutical company based in United States for a whopping amount of $9.7B. This acquisition can be termed as horizontal acquisition since they are competing in the same market and in order to acquire market share and to earn a competitive edge Novartis acquire the target company.

# data[].attributes.body
As soon as Novartis bought the company at a price of $85 per share which was above than the actual price i.e. $68.55 per share the share price of medicine company shoot up to $84 per share which depicts that the investor sentiments are aligned with the deal. Whereas share price of Novartis i.e. the acquirer also went up because of this deal which is an abnormal return for the company, since during such deals the acquirer's stakeholders/investors might feel such acquisition as expenses but here the share price touches $92.3 per share within 2 days of the deal completion, which represents that the investors sentiments are aligned with the deals and definitely provides good returns.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Swiss pharma giant Novartis NVS is the latest company to join the ongoing M&A wave in the pharma/biotech sector.

The company announced that it entered an agreement to acquire U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company, The Medicines Company MDCO, for $85 per share in cash or a total valuation of $9.7 billion, and add a potentially transformational investigational cholesterol-lowering therapy.
Financial Terms of the Acquisition
Per the terms, the offer price represents a premium of approximately 41% over The Medicines Company's 30-day (to November 22, 2019) volume-weighted average price of $60.33 and approximately 24% premium over the closing share price of $68.55 on Nov 22, which represented a fully diluted equity value of approximately $7.7 billion.

The transaction, expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies.

The acquisition is expected to modestly dilute core earnings per share.
Value of the Deal
The acquisition will add a potentially first-in-class siRNA inhibitor targeting PCSK9, inclisiran, to Novartis' pipeline. The Medicines Company recently announced data from its late-stage program consisting of three phase III studies (ORION-9, 10 and 11) on inclisiran for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Inclisiran demonstrated potent and durable LDL-C reduction with an excellent safety and tolerability profile. The candidate's twice-yearly dosing schedule allows administration during patients' routine visits to their healthcare professionals and will likely improve patient adherence and sustain lower LDL-C levels.

Additionally, an ongoing clinical trial (ORION-4) will evaluate the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality benefits of inclisiran.

The Medicines Company expects to file regulatory submissions in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2019 and Europe in the first quarter of 2020. The Medicines Company has a partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals for the development of PCSK9 inhibitor, inclisiran.
Our Take
The planned acquisition will add a promising candidate to Novartis' cardiovascular portfolio, which includes Entresto. With regulatory applications planned shortly, inclisiran represents a near-term product launch opportunity and is expected to contribute to sales from 2021. The twice-yearly dosing schedule provides a great advantage to the candidate over the existing treatments in the market.

Though the targeted market holds significant potential, competition is stiff from the likes of Amgen's AMGN Repatha and Regeneron and Sanofi's SNY Praluent. While Praluent and Repatha are approved with once every two weeks or once a month dosing, inclisiran has been developed for twice-a-year dosing.

Shares of the company have gained 5.5% year to date compared with the industry's growth of 5.2%.

Novartis has been making prudent acquisitions in recent times to diversify its portfolio, as its legacy drugs are facing generic competition. Earlier, the company acquired Endocyte to expand expertise in radiopharmaceuticals and transformational therapeutic platforms. In 2018, it acquired U.S.-based, clinical-stage, gene-therapy company, AveXis, Inc, which focuses on developing novel treatments for patients suffering from rare and life-threatening neurological genetic diseases. The company spun-off its ophthalmology division, Alcon, into a separately-traded, standalone company in order to grow as a medicines company solely.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Novartis (NVS) to Acquire The Medicines Company for $9.7B

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Swiss pharma giant Novartis NVS is the latest company to join the ongoing M&A wave in the pharma/biotech sector. The company announced that it entered an agreement to acquire U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company, The Medicines Company MDCO, for $85 per share in cash or a total valuation of $9.7 billion, and add a potentially transformational investigational cholesterol-lowering therapy.

# data[].attributes.body
The Novartis company goes with the behavioural class of thought as they focused on the future perspectives of this acquisitions since the Medicines Company and inclisiran gives Novartis a unique opportunity to open up a new chapter on the treatment of the world’s leading cause of mortality and disability with a vaccine-like approach. What else make this deal more strategic for the company was last year the Medicines Company presented data at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting from the Phase III ORION-9 and ORION-10 studies of inclisiran, respectively testing the drug in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) which makes it more attractive and useful for the Novartis company by considering the future aspects for the company's growth and market share.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Vasant Narasimhan, MD, MPP, CEO of Novartis, is betting on RNA interference by acquiring The ... [+]
AFP via Getty Images

Novartis AG is paying $9.7 billion to buy The Medicines Company. For what? Its medicines, of course. Actually make that medicine singular. Yes, Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan pulled the trigger on a deal to get one particular type of medicine that's not quite reached the market yet. It's name is inclisiran.

Do you have an inkling of what inclisiran is or what it can be? The drug recently went through several Phase 3 clinical studies for the treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia. "Familial" in medicine-speak usually means "runs in families" or inherited. "Hyper" means high. "Cholesterol" means cholesterol, and "emia" means in the blood. Thus, familial hypercholesterolemia is an inherited disorder that can result in you having very high levels of cholesterol in your blood.

The high levels are of not just any cholesterol but low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. To remember that LDL cholesterol is bad cholesterol, just consider LDL to be the opposite of "LOL." As the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medline Plus website describes, in familial hypercholesterolemia, a defect in your chromosome 19 prevents your body from adequately getting rid of LDL from your blood. Higher LDL levels make you more likely to have a heart attack, other types of heart disease, a stroke, and peripheral vascular disease, even at quite early ages, like as a kid.

Until recently, the mainstay of treatment, besides a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fats and getting plenty of exercise, has been statins. Statins are a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs that all end in the suffix "-statin." Examples include lovastatin, known better by its stage name Mevacor, pravastatin otherwise known as Pravachol, simvastatin which goes by Zocor, and atorvastatin, famously called Lipitor. You've probably heard of these drugs, because many of them are blockbusters, earning lots of money for their makers. For example, a 2013 Forbes article listed Lipitor as the world's best selling drug since 1996. That's because while familiar hypercholesterolnemia may occur in one out of 200 to 500 people, according to a publication in Current Atherosclerosis Reports, having high cholesterol in general is much more common.

Statins, of course, are not the miracle cure for high lipids and cholesterol. It's not as if you can take statins and then eat endless amounts of mayonnaise sandwiches or even a lower fat diet and expect the statins to always correct everything. Statins do reduce the amount of cholesterol that your liver produces by inhibiting an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. However, your liver is not the only source of cholesterol. A lot of it comes from what you eat as this video from the Cleveland Clinic shows:

That's why you need a clean-up crew to periodically pick up LDL from your blood. As you can see in the video, your liver has LDL receptors on the surface of its cells that bind excess LDL in the blood and bring the LDL into your liver to be broken down. The liver then returns the empty LDL receptors back to the liver cell surfaces to do their thing again. Consider these LDL receptors as little garbage trucks that pick up the LDL trash and dispose of it in the liver, circling back and forth. If there aren't enough LDL receptors to clean up the mess, the result can be high cholesterol and lipids.

That's why PCSK9 is a problem. This vowel-less name refers to a protein in your body that also binds to LDL receptors. Ah, but when the liver absorbs the PCSK9-LDL receptor combination, it destroys both. PCSK9 essentially tells the liver, "kill us both," which is not a very PC thing to do and can leave your body with too few LDL receptors to deal with the LDL mess. So not only does PCSK9 have no vowels, it can also kind of suck.

In 2015, Amgen brought Repatha to market, significantly changing the landscape of treating high ... [+]
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

If there were only a way to stop this PCSK9 BS. Well, 2015 saw the approval of not one but two monoclonal antibodies that can bind to and inhibit the action of PCSK9. That year Regeneron and Sanofi brought Praulent (alirocumab) to market while Amgen did the same with Repatha (evolocumab). Take that PCSK9. Score one, or rather two, for the LDL receptors.

While effectively muzzling PCSK9 sounds good, could you do one better by stopping the production of PCSK9 in the first place? In other words, is there some way of "interfering" with PCSK9 being made? You may have an inkling that there could be.

RNA interference may sound like a penalty in football or an interruption in your cell phone call, but it is a way to turn off a gene. Genes produce messenger RNA, which then essentially provides the instructions or blueprints for what proteins should be produced by a cell's machinery. RNA interference or RNAi for short is a method to silence this gene, which sounds very mafia-esque but essentially means negating the messenger RNA produced by the gene. RNAi is also known as post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), just in case RNAi is too easy for you to say. Post-transcriptional means after the gene has produced or transcribed messenger RNA. Gene-silencing means shut the bleep up gene. Your cells naturally use RNAi or PTGS to turn off different genes at different times, because you wouldn't want all of your genes to be on and essentially sending chatter all the time. That would be a cacophony and a mess.

Here is a Nature video describing the natural RNAi process:

As you can see, the RNAi process begins when your cells produce these double-stranded RNAs that can combine with the enzyme mentioned in the video. These RNA-enzyme complexes can then bind to matching messenger RNA produced by the gene of interest. This eventually results in that messenger RNA produced by the gene being cleaved or sliced apart, effectively silencing that gene.

Think of the gene as a person who wants to send messages (e.g., emails, tweets, or semaphors) to others as instructions to get something done. You could "silence" that person by intercepting every email, tweet, or waving flag sent by the person and slicing these messages apart so that no one would ever be able to read them.

Given this natural RNAi mechanism of silencing genes, could scientists then synthesize custom-produced double-stranded RNA to control the messages of certain genes, like the ones that produce PCSK9? Indeed, that's what inclisiran is supposed to do. And based on results from the recently completed ORION-10 clinical trial, inclisiran seems to be be pretty good at shushing the PCSK9-producing gene. In this American Heart Association (AHA) video, R. Scott Wright, MD, the Principal Investigator of ORION-10 and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, described the trial and results:

And here Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, offered her expert assessment of the trial results:

The AHA website includes more detailed results from the trial, which were first announced at the AHA meeting earlier this month. The trial randomly assigned 1561 patients with high LDL levels to receive either inclisiran or a placebo. Inclisiran administration included an initial injection, a second one three months later, and then subsequent twice-a-year injections. After 18 months, those receiving inclisiran on average experienced significant reductions in their LDL levels while not experiencing major side effects.

Therefore, things do look promising for inclisiran. If it is indeed another way to effectively lower bad cholesterol, it could very well be another blockbuster drug. This then would give Novartis AG the medicine that it wanted when it takes The Medicines Company.

... Read More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Novartis Is Buying The Medicines Company For $9.7 Billion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Novartis AG is paying $9.7 billion to buy The Medicines Company. For what? Its medicines, of course. Actually make that medicine singular. Yes, Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan pulled the trigger on a deal to get one particular type of medicine that's not quite reached the market yet.